


Pieces

by lenasmagic (dimensionhoppingrose)



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Angst, F/F, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Shadow War - Alternate Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 49,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22247872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimensionhoppingrose/pseuds/lenasmagic
Summary: -Alternatve Shadow War Ending-Six months ago, a teenager was found on the edge of Duckburg with no memory of anything other than her name - Lena.For six months, Webby has endlessly researched everything there is to know about the Shadow Realm, refusing to believe that Lena is gone. Too bad she never thought to take a walk across town to the Sabrewing household.
Relationships: Lena & Magica de Spell, Lena (Disney: DuckTales) & Violet Sabrewing, Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Webby Vanderquack, Violet Sabrewing & Webby Vanderquack
Comments: 157
Kudos: 379





	1. Prologue - Happy?

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I've been chewing over for months. Not much to say except strap in and enjoy lol.
> 
> Title taken from this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uw8mIcQJn8 which is also the quasi-theme song for the whole story since I've listened to it so much while writing.

_ Shadows swirl around her, a voice hissing in her ear… _

_ “Get the dime, get the dime, get the dime!” _

Lena shot up, disoriented, not sure for a moment if the consistent  _ knock knock knock _ was in her head or real.

“Lena?” Real, then. “We’re going to be late.”

“Y-Yeah.” Lena scrubbed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “It’s not late if we’re still fifteen minutes early, Vi.”

“I have a meeting with my English teacher before class to talk about my last paper—”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Lena yawned, stumbling out of bed. “Go downstairs, nerd. I’ll be there in a minute.”

She groped blindly for a moment before finding her lamp. It was unreasonably dark in the room for the time of day; the Sabrewings had been kind enough to buy her blackout curtains when they’d realized Lena did not, for some reason, like the sun. No one could figure out why.

Which wasn’t really an uncommon theme in her life.

“Ah, mi pajarito rosa!” Papi Sabrewing said cheerfully when Lena slouched down in the chair, still yawning and grumbling. “Bright and cheery as always. C’mere, pajarito.”

“I don’t need you to dress me,” Lena complained as Harry knelt to zip her sweatshirt and fixed the sunglasses on top of her head.

“I’m sure you don’t, and I’ll stop when you start doing it yourself.” He beamed and kissed her forehead before going back to the stove. “Breakfast?”

“No, we have to get going,” Violet said from the door. Harry frowned at her.

“I  _ know _ you’re hungry, mi pequeño colibrí.”

“ _ Papi _ …”

“Just take a couple of bagels, it won’t kill you.” The man tsked as he went to put the bagels in the toaster. Lena hooked her bag over her shoulder, rubbing her eyes.

“What were you dreaming about last night?”

“Huh?” She looked at Violet, blinking in surprise.

“I heard you muttering through the wall. Unless you’ve started talking to yourself.”

Lena sighed, shrugging. “I dunno. All I remember is shadows.”

The toaster popped, and a moment later they were each presented with a peanut butter smeared bagel. “Gracias, Papi.” Violet indulged a kiss from her father, who was beaming.

“De nada. Have a good day at school, both of you. Oh, and Lena, make sure you come straight home after therapy. Nico and I want to talk to you.”

Lena blinked, bagel frozen mid-air. “About what?”

“Nothing bad, don’t worry. Go on now.”

Lena was frowning as she and Violet left. “What do they want to talk about?” she asked as soon as they were on the sidewalk. Violet sighed.

“I told them being cryptic was just going to make you anxious…” Lena raised an eyebrow, waiting. “They want to talk about making this a more… permanent arrangement.”

“A more permanent — like,  _ adopt _ me?”

“I would assume that’s what a permanent arrangement is.”

“But  _ why _ ?”

“I don’t know, they like you?” Violet shrugged. “And after six months they’ve likely assumed no one is looking for you, and you need a home.”

Lena huffed, shoving her hands in her sweatshirt pockets. “I mean, I  _ guess _ . You could be nicer about it, though.”

“Sorry. What do you think, though?”

“What do I think — you mean about your dads adopting me?”

“Yes. Even any family that  _ does _ come looking for you probably isn’t worth your time if they’ve left you for this long.”

“Yeah…” Lena looked at her bagel, suddenly not hungry.

Violet cocked her head. “Is something wrong?”

“No… I mean, I don’t know.” Lena sighed, looking at her wrist. “I just… I don’t know. I still feel like there’s  _ something _ out there. You know?”

“No,” Violet admitted. “But if you’re hesitating, you shouldn’t say yes.”

“Right.” Why did it feel like something was  _ missing _ from her wrist? She didn’t understand. Not that surprising, of course. She didn’t understand much.

They arrived at school and split off toward their separate homerooms — Lena got rid of the bagel at the first trash can she passed. She got to her homeroom, dropped into her seat, and rested her chin in her arms, looking out the window.

_ Why do I feel like I’m missing something? _

Well, the answer to  _ that _ was obvious. She was missing her memories from her first… well, they’d guessed thirteen or fourteen years. But it felt like  _ more _ .

Or maybe she was just imagining things. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and let her mind drift. Was she just imagining things? Was it possible she really didn’t have anyone out there waiting for her? Maybe her family had died. Maybe they had abandoned her. Maybe they had never cared about her. Maybe she had never been important to anyone.

_ But then where did I come from? _

She couldn’t have just… appeared out of thin air. She had to have family out there  _ somewhere _ .

That didn’t mean they had to  _ want _ her, she supposed.

“Lena?”

The teacher calling her name snapped her out of her reverie, and she sat up quickly. “Yeah, here, hi, sorry.”

She settled in for another boring day of school, completely unaware that across town, in a house that was far too big for anyone to ever need, locked in her library with a pile of books, was a small duckling who very much cared. Who had been reading and researching and studying for the last six months to bring her home.

* * *

“Hello Lena,” the pleasant, brightly colored therapist said as she greeted Lena in the waiting room. Lena gave her a small, half smile.

“Hi Dr. Lorikeet.”

She followed the therapist to her office, snagging her usual fidget cube off the bookshelf and flopping in her usual chair and clicking one of the buttons. Dr. Lorikeet smiled as she sat.

“Feeling anxious?”

“Yeah. No.” Lena shrugged, flipping the cube and turning the gears. “I don’t know. The Sabrewings want to adopt me.”

“Ah.” That was really all Lena needed to say. The anxiety surrounding her familial situation was a constant topic. “You’re not jumping to say yes.”

“I mean…” Lena leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling. “They’re great and all, and I could totally get on board with it. I just… I can’t get rid of that feeling that there’s  _ something _ else. Something I’m missing. Besides my entire life.”

“Any more hints at memories?”   


“No. Yeah. Sort of.” Lena scrubbed her eyes. “I had a dream last night. There was this voice… it… she, I think… she kept talking about a dime.”

“A  _ dime _ ? That’s certainly a new one.”

“Tell me about it. It seemed really important in the dream but saying it out loud feels stupid.”

“It still might have meant something at one point. Have you been keeping up with your journal and dream log?”

“Yeah. I wrote it down. Along with the rest of the things I’ve dreamt about that I don’t understand.” She pressed her thumb into the smooth, indented side of the fidget cube. “What am I supposed to do? Just be happy with what I’ve got?”

“Are you  _ not _ happy?”

“That isn’t what I said.” She gripped the cube tight. “I just… I don’t know how I’m supposed to…  _ be _ if there’s an entire part of my life I can’t remember. That whole ‘be yourself’ thing is a joke when you don’t know who you are. And it doesn’t seem like I’m any closer to figuring it out.”

“Maybe you’re not,” Lorikeet admitted. “You have to remember what happened that day—”

“What people have  _ told _ me happened.” Shadows coming to life and a witch and a weird old man saving the day with his family? It was a bit farfetched, even considering some of the things Lena had seen. Duckburg was just a hub for weird happenings, apaprently.

“You obviously went through something extremely traumatic. Erasing it is the brain’s only coping mechanism sometimes.”

“Did it have to take my entire  _ life _ with it?”

“I don’t know.” It was always best to be honest with Lena. “I don’t know the circumstances.”

“Someone has to, though. Right?”

There was a desperation in Lena’s eyes that hurt. Lorikeet sighed quietly, scribbling down a few notes. “I don’t know, Lena.”

That was the problem. Nobody knew.

* * *

“Lena? Is that you?”

Lena sighed, closing the door and dropping her bag. “Yeah. Sorry I’m late, there was—”

“Oh, we have the news on, don’t worry.” Nico chuckled. “You didn’t get caught up in any of that, did you?”

“Nope, took side streets home.” Lena walked into the living room and dropped down onto the couch with Violet and Harry. Violet was reading while Harry leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, chin in his hands as he watched the TV with stars in his eyes.

“You know, sometimes I think I’m lucky Scrooge McDuck is straight,” Nico grumbled kiddingly, clapping his husband’s shoulder.

“There’s no proof of that!”

“He’s also somewhere around two-hundred years old,” Violet said without looking up. “Which shouldn’t be biologically possible, but I guess if magic can exist, a duck can live forever.”

Lena snorted, leaning back on the couch and half-watching the news coverage of whatever monster of the week was attacking the town for Scrooge McDuck and his family to fight. “Isn’t he also like… a trillionaire or something insane? He has an entire  _ bin _ dedicated to his money. Who does that?”

“Show offs,” Nico said with a sage nod. “Harry, turn off the TV.”

“But they’re about to do an interview—”

“Dear.”

Harry sighed, turning off the TV. “Right.” He turned to look at Lena, giving her a small smile. “Violet’s told us she ruined the surprise.”

“And  _ I _ told  _ you _ she wouldn’t enjoy having it sprung on her without any time to think. I was right, by the way.”

“You always are.” Nico ruffled her hair fondly. “ _ Have _ you thought about it, Lena?”

“I… yeah, a little,” Lena stuttered, shoulders hunching.

“I’m not sensing any exuberance or joy.”

“I mean, I’m…” She waved her hands. “I’m not  _ un _ happy. It’s… I mean I think…” Words,  _ words _ ! Why couldn’t she do anything with words? “I don’t know if I can say yes when I still don’t know anything about… me. What if I’m actually a horrible person and you end up adopting like, a sociopath?”

“It’s possible you’re being a  _ little _ overdramatic,” Violet spoke up.

“You know what I mean.”

“We do,” Harry assured her. “And we’re willing to take that risk. We love you.”

Lena looked up, smiling slightly. “I love you guys, too. I don’t want you to, ya know, regret taking me.”

“We could never.” Violet opened her mouth. “Shush, pequeño colibrí.” She closed her mouth again. “You don’t have to answer now. But don’t say no because you’re worried about  _ us _ . Whatever happens, we want you to be part of this family.”

Tears filled Lena’s eyes, and she ducked her head again, blushing. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I get it. I’ll… I’ll think about it. Thank you.”

“Of course, pajarito rosa.”

Harry beamed, shuffling to capture both his girls in a tight hug. “Ack—!”

“Papá!”

* * *

Lena rubbed her eyes, yawning around her toothbrush. The sleeping pills were starting to kick in, which meant it was time to be in bed. She had fallen asleep halfway up the stairs once.

The drowsiness disappeared when she felt something invisible punch her square at the stomach. She actually lost her breath for a moment, coughing once before dropping her toothbrush and darting out of the bathroom.

“Violet!”

The girl immediately shoved her hand under her pillow, trying not to look guilty. “What?”

“Give me a break, you can’t lie to save your life. I thought you said you were going to get rid of it?”

“I  _ can’t _ .” Violet sighed, pulling the cracked amulet back out. Lena took a step back, feeling nauseous. “Aren’t you curious at all about this? About why it makes you feel like you do? What if it’s connected to your past?”

“Then I don’t want to know! Violet, that thing is  _ dangerous _ . You said you would get rid of it.”

“I will. As soon as I figure out what it is and what it has to do with everything that happened.” Violet looked up, her eyes wide and sincere in a way that Lena couldn’t be mad about. “I found this thing after the Shadow War, and the next day someone found you. It seems highly unlikely that all of these things  _ aren’t _ connected. And how do you  _ know _ it’s dangerous when you won’t even touch it?”

“I… I just  _ know _ , okay?” Lena scrubbed her eyes. “Violet, I’m begging you. Get rid of it. You’re right, I don’t know what it is, but I know it doesn’t  _ feel _ right. There’s something wrong with that thing, and it should be very, very far away from us.”

Violet looked back at the shining amulet. “I just want to know what it is. You understand that much.”

“I do,” Lena agreed. “And I don’t trust  _ it _ any more than I trust myself.”

“That might be overreacting. You’re perfectly trustworthy.”

“Okay, well that amulet isn’t, so ditch it.”

“I will,” Violet promised. “As soon as I know what it is.”

“Not fast enough.”

“You can’t expect me to just give up on finding out what it is,” Violet said stubbornly. “I need to know, Lena.”

Lena sighed, rubbing her temples. “Fine. Just… Just be careful, Vi.  _ Please _ ?”

“I’m always careful.”

That was entirely unbelievable. Lena shook her head, yawning as the sleeping pills overtook her anxiety again. “Okay. I believe you.”

Violet gave her a small smile, looking down at the amulet, then back at her sister. “You should go to bed before you fall over again.”

“Oh… shut up.”


	2. Six Months Earlier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violet's dads get an odd call in the aftermath of the Shadow War.

_**Six Months Ago** _

Waking up felt weird.

Violet stirred to the ringing of the downstairs phone, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Her neighborhood had been left relatively unharmed by what the news was already calling “the shadow war” (did everything need a name?). But it all felt so surreal.

“I’m not sure, Sun,” Harry was saying quietly into the phone when Violet snuck downstairs. “I know you only call me for emergencies, but after yesterday… I need to talk to Nico and Violet. I’ll call you back.”

“Talk to Nico and Violet about what?” Violet piped up, distracting Harry. He turned, surprised.

“Mi pequeño colibrí! You’re up early.”

“I couldn’t sleep. What did Sun want?”

Harry shook his head, smiling and ruffling Violet’s hair. “Go sit in the living room while I get your father.”

Violet settled in her usual corner of the couch. The TV was already on, re-showing footage from the events of the day before. “Sweetheart, don’t watch that,” Nico said, grabbing the remote and turning the TV off. “We don’t need any of that.” He turned to his husband. “You said Sun called?”

Harry nodded, sitting in the armchair. “She has a bit of a… let’s say unique case. A girl was found outside of town last night and brought to Duckburg General.”

“That doesn’t sound unique. Yesterday was chaos,” Violet pointed out. “A lot of people were probably found and brought to the hospital.”

“Yes, but this one woke up and the only question she could answer about herself was her name. She doesn’t know who her family is, or how she ended up outside of town or… anything.”

“Total amnesia?” Violet frowned. “That’s… impossible.”

“Then she’s really good at pretending.” Harry shook his head. “Sun is trying to track down any family or trace of the girl’s existence, but she doesn’t want to leave her in the hospital or take her to a group home. It would seem she’s easily overwhelmed.”

“She made it hard to say no, didn’t she?” Nico chuckled wearily. “I see no reason not to take her. We’re about as quiet as things can get right now.”

Harry looked at Violet. “What do you think?” Violet had gotten the worst of things the day before. Harry and Nico had been home when the shadows had attacked. Violet had been off in one of her secret reading places.

Violet shrugged. “Like Papá said, there’s no reason not to, right? And I’m sure they’ll find her family in no time.”

“True. Someone must be missing the poor girl.” Harry clapped his hands together. “Okay. I’ll call Sun back. Violet, can you fix up the guest room?”

“Of course.”

Violet stood, letting each of her fathers hug her before going upstairs to get dressed and prepare for the new arrival.

It was almost noon when Sun finally dropped the girl off. Harry and Nico had decided it would be best to greet them one-on-one, not wanting to overwhelm her. Which didn’t mean Nico and Violet weren’t sneakily watching from the couch as Harry opened the door. He and Sun exchanged greetings as he stepped aside to let them in; Violet’s eyes immediately fell to look at the girl. The first thing she noticed was the hunched shoulders and the way her eyes darted around. Anxiety. She was curled in tightly on herself, arms wrapped around her torso. Scared. Pulling at the sleeve of her striped sweater.  _ Extremely _ scared. Violet didn’t blame her.

Sun introduced the girl as Lena. She gave no reaction to hearing her name, choosing instead to keep her eyes on the floor even when Harry greeted her. “She’s not much of a talker,” Sun explained softly. Harry smiled.

“Well, that’s all right, we don’t need to talk around here. Violet can have an entire conversation with just her eyes.”

The social worker chuckled, looking to the living room. “I’m afraid I can’t stay long — Lena, are you going to be okay?” The girl nodded once. “Harry has my number, you can ask him or Nico if you need anything, or if you remember something.” Another nod. Sun sighed quietly, seeing herself out. Harry closed the door behind her before focusing on his new foster daughter.

“Now then.” He knelt, putting himself on her level. “Lena, is it?” She nodded. “You must know how to talk, you had to tell someone your name. Are you afraid to talk?” No answer. “Do you not want to talk?” No answer. “Are you tired?” A pause, and then a slight nod. “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping. We can talk later, and maybe get some food in you.” He pushed himself up, gesturing for Lena to go up the stairs before him. She hesitated before starting a slow walk, looking like she was going to her own execution rather than take a nap.

* * *

A scream shattered the silence.

Violet jolted out of her half doze, stumbling out bed and hurrying into the hall. “Wha—”

Nico caught her shoulder quickly, shushing her and gesturing to the guest room. Violet could hear Harry murmuring over the sound of hyperventilating. “Nightmare,” Nico murmured. Violet nodded, listening to Harry for a moment before ducking back into her room and getting the purple blanket off the edge of her bed. She went to the guest room, pausing when she saw Lena curled into the corner where the bed met the wall, fingers tangled in her hair while Harry tried to talk her down.

“Papi?” Harry looked over his shoulder, and smiled when he saw Violet offering one of her weighted blankets. He hadn’t dared try to touch Lena, but pressure of some kind almost always helped.

“Thank you, pequeño colibrí.” He took the blanket, showing it to Lena. “May I?” She hesitated before nodding slowly, shifting and letting Harry wrap the blanket around her shoulders. She looked at it, surprised, as the glass beads clinked together.

“It’s a weighted blanket,” Violet said, drawing Lena’s attention. “It helps with anxiety, and you won’t overheat.”

Lena stared at her for a moment before nodding and curling tighter into it the blanket, wrapping it around her as a cocoon. “Does that feel better?” Lena nodded slowly, taking a couple of deep breaths. “There you go. Deep breaths. Do you want to talk about it?” The teen shook her head, closing her eyes. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”

She probably didn’t want to be alone, Violet realized. She jumped up, hurrying back to her room. She got her laptop and sleeping bag, and went back to the guest room. “I can stay with you, if you want.” Lena’s eyes flickered to Violet, and she nodded.

“Good idea, sweetheart,” Harry said. He kissed Violet’s forehead and stood, letting Violet spread out her sleeping bag and settle on the floor.

“We don’t have to talk,” Violet assured her, lying down on her stomach and opening her laptop. Lena was quiet for a long moment before sliding to lie on her side. She smiled faintly when she heard Lena’s breathing even out.

* * *

It was a week before Lena spoke for the first time. It was the quietest “Thank you” when Harry put a plate down in front of her. They all paused, then quickly continued on before Lena could feel self-conscious about it. Harry and Nico exchanged small smiles. It was a start.

Lena spent a lot of time in her room, tucked under the weighted blanket, usually with another heavy blanket on top of her. She hated open spaces. Even just going down to the kitchen seemed to be too much for her sometimes.

Sun wasn’t having any luck finding anyone who might be looking for the poor teen. Violet was starting to think more and more that even if she did have family, they weren’t looking. And maybe it would be best if they never found Lena.

School started again a couple weeks after the shadow war, but of course it was all anyone could talk about. Violet found herself noticing people more than usual — usually her nose was just buried in a book while she walked. But now her eyes followed the people walking by her, wondering over and over,  _ Do you know Lena? Do you? Does  _ she _ go here too? Are teachers missing her in their classes? _

One month. Lena was talking a little more, although not about anything substantial. Violet spent a lot of time with Lena, quietly reading at the foot of her bed. Keeping her company without pressuring her. Violet had a feeling Lena appreciated it.

Lena was sleeping at that moment, though, and Violet was in her room, going through her closet. Her hand brushed across her reading bag, and she paused, staring at it. That day on the beach might as well have been another lifetime, she thought as she tugged the bag out. She hadn’t been out on her own for anything more than school since the shadow war, which meant no reason to get out her bag of books and go to one of her hide-y holes. Honestly, she never wanted to go to the beach again.

But there was something in her bag that deserved more attention. She opened the front pocket, taking out the amulet that had fallen onto the beach in front of her. Well, the staff that had turned into the amulet she was now holding.

There was a a small, strangled sound like a wheeze behind her; she looked over her shoulder to see Lena staring at her in terror.

“Lena? What’s wrong?”

No answer. Her eyes were fixed on the amulet, and Violet realized she wasn’t breathing. “Do you know what this is?” No answer. “Lena, if this can help us figure out who you are—”

“No,” Lena finally choked out, taking a step back. “Get… Get  _ rid _ of that thing, Violet. It’s dangerous.”

“But Lena—”

“Get rid of it!” Her voice cracked, and Violet jumped, surprised.

“Okay. Okay, I’ll… figure something out. I’m sorry.”

She slipped it back into her bag, and Lena ran as soon as it was out of sight.

* * *

“I’m not saying we want to get rid of her, Sun. How could you think that?”

Violet paused outside the kitchen, pressing herself to the wall and looking into the kitchen. Harry was on the phone. “I just think… it’s time to be realistic. It’s been almost three months. I don’t think there’s a family looking for her. And she needs help. I have no idea what she dreams about, but she’s woken up screaming almost every night since she got here.” He paused. “I don’t know, therapy might be a good start? Maybe it can help shake some memories loose at the same time.” Another pause. “Yeah, we’ll be home all day. Stop in whenever you want.”

He hung up, sighing. “Is everything okay?” Violet asked, finally revealing herself. Harry jumped, turning back and smiling at his daughter.

“Ah, yes, mi pequeño colibrí. Sun is just coming over to see Lena.”

“Has she had any luck finding Lena’s family?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Harry shook his head. “I can not imagine anyone losing their child and not wanting to find them.”

“Maybe they died.” There hadn’t been any reported casualties from shadow war, but that didn’t mean anything.

“I don’t know. It’s the only thing I can think of.”

Harry reached out, taking Violet and pulling her into a tight hug. She indulged, curling into him.

Sun arrived a few hours later, giving Lena small smile when she saw the teen cowering in the corner of the couch. “Hello, Lena. Don’t worry, I’m just here to talk.”

Violet was sent upstairs, much to her disgruntlement, leaving the adults and Lena in the living room. “Did you find my family?”

“No.” Sun said, shoulders falling. “I’m sorry. No luck remembering anything?” Lena shook her head.

“We’re happy to let Lena to stay for as long as she needs,” Nico said. “I don’t think just putting a roof over your head is enough now, though.”

“I’ve been in touch with a few therapists who work with us,” Sun said. Lena’s shoulders hunched up.

“I’m not crazy.”

“Oh, pajarito.” Harry sighed. “We don’t think you’re crazy, at all. But you’ve been through something traumatic. It’s okay to accept help.”

“I think it would be good for you,” Nico added. “We’re happy to help in any way we can, but there are some things that are beyond us.”

Lena stared at the ground, shoulders hunched. “You don’t want to get rid of me?”

“Absolutely not.” Harry assured her, smiling. “We might make your family fight us to get you back, who knows.”

“Mi amor, hush,” Nico scolded him, but he was trying not to smile as well. That got them both an amused snort from Lena as she tried not to laugh.

Lena began therapy with Dr. Lorikeet a week later. It didn’t help her with memories, but it did help them identify some other issues, like her constant anxiety and insomnia. Those were things they could help with.

And Violet began her research.

Lena’s reaction to that amulet had been telling. She was connected to it somehow. And Violet was determined to figure out how. Lena somehow knew every time Violet touched the amulet, which led her to seeking outside sources. Which led her to the library, and Mrs. Quackfaster, the eccentric weekend librarian. She was kind of off, but she helped Violet find as many books about shadow magic as possible. Lena saw the books, of course; something had flashed in her expression that Violet hadn’t quite been able to read. Something between fear and disgust, if she had to guess.

“Why’re you reading about  _ that _ ?”

“I’m just curious.” Violet shrugged. “You know, after the shadow war and all. It’s hard not to wonder how all of this started.”

Lena shot a wary look at Violet’s closet door. “You still have that thing, don’t you?”

Violet winced. “Yes. It’s too important to get rid of.”

“It’s  _ dangerous _ .”

“How do you know that?” Lena didn’t have an answer. She looked just as confused as Violet felt. “What if it has something to do with you? What if it’s connected to your past and your memories?”

“Then maybe I don’t want to know!” It was the first time Lena had ever raised her voice. Even she looked surprised. “Maybe I’m better off not knowing!”

“Maybe,” Violet agreed quietly. “But you’ll never know if you don’t find out. Are you really happy living that way?”

“I don’t know,” Lena admitted. “But maybe it’s better.”

It was around this time, halfway through the fourth month, that Lena had her first “attack”, as they came to call them. Harry had decided it was time for Lena to own more clothing, and had dragged her and Violet to the store.

“More baggy clothes.” Harry sighed, clucking his tongue. “Honestly, I’ve never understood that. Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“I think it’s nice,” Lena said simply, eying the zipper hoodie she was considering. “It’s comfortable and it wraps around me like—”

She cut off so suddenly, it took Violet and Harry a moment to catch up. They looked over as Lena sucked in a sharp breath, collapsing to her knees, her arms wound tightly around her torso.

“Lena!”

Harry was beside her in a flash, a hand on her shoulder as he knelt beside her. “Lena, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t…” She shook her head, trying to swallow a couple desperate attempts for air. “My chest hurts.”

Duckburg General was the only place they could go after  _ that  _ declaration. The pain had alleviated somewhat by the time they got there, but Lena was still whisked straight back for tests — chest pain in teenagers was unusual and worrying. Harry called Nico first, trying not to panic, then called Sun to let her know what was happening. Nico was there within twenty minutes, but it took Sun a bit longer to find some time. She finally got there just as a nurse was coming out to talk to them. The poor nurse looked absolutely bewildered.

“Is she okay?” Nico demanded; he had a hand on Harry’s shoulder to keep him from running back and finding Lena.

“Well… yes, as far as we can tell.”

“What does that mean?” Sun asked, frowning.

“It means we’ve run all the tests we can, and we can’t find anything that would have caused this. She’s a little underweight, but that doesn’t usually cause chest pains.”

“Panic attack, maybe?” Nico said thoughtfully. “She’s never one-hundred percent about going out, and I’m sure the store was crowded…”

“Maybe,” Harry admitted, but the frown told Violet that he was thinking the same thing she was — that wasn’t a panic attack.

Lena was sitting up in bed, looking vaguely bored and poking the bandage where they had taken blood. “How’re you feeling, pajarito rosa?” Harry asked gently. Violet climbed up to sit on the bed with Lena, who gave her a small, grateful smile.

“I feel fine now. I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened…”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Nico assured her. Sun had stayed in the waiting room, not wanting to scare Lena or make her thing she was there to take her away. “We’re just happy you’re okay.”

“They don’t know what’s wrong.” Lena’s voice was small. Violet knew she constantly worried about being too much, and that eventually Harry and Nico were just going to give up and send her back to Sun to find a new family for her. She clearly didn’t understand yet how stubborn they were.

“No. We’ll have to keep an eye on it.” Nico ruffled her hair, and she made a show of ducking away, smiling tiredly. “It’s okay, Lena. We don’t throw people out every time there’s a small problem. Harry would be living on the lawn every time he started crying over a cute kitten if that were the case.”

Harry muttered under his breath in Spanish, and Nico grinned, kissing his husband’s cheek. Violet exchanged a silent look with Lena, and they rolled their eyes.

Later, once Lena was home and tucked into bed, Harry went back to the store and bought every single sweatshirt in the style she’d been looking at.


	3. New Friends, Questionable Choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violet meets a new friend at the library. That's probably fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Violet makes some very poor choices in this chapter. Don't hold it against her. She just wants to protect her sister.

“...Lena? Are you… can you hear…”

Violet’s voice echoed in her ears like she she was shouting down a tunnel. Lena shook her head a few times, trying to reorient herself as the pain in her chest began to ebb, and she managed to start breathing again.

“Yeah,” she muttered, aware of Violet’s small hand on her shoulder. “Yeah, it was just, ya know…”

Another attack. Violet frowned, letting Lena lean on her slightly as she stood. “Are you sure you can get home okay? I don’t mind walking you—”

“What, and interrupt your library time?” Lena gave her a weak smile. “I’m fine, nerd. Go read your books.”

Violet didn’t look entirely convinced. “You’re  _ sure _ ?”

“Absolutely. It already barely hurts.” Lena pushed Violet lightly. “Go on. I’ll see you at home later.”

Violet finally gave in and nodded, starting in the opposite direction toward the city library, while Lena tucked her earbuds into her ears and started on her way.

The pain attacks weren’t getting any better, and she swore they were lasting for longer. But at least she could relax a little once she got home. Violet was off at the library, Harry and Nico both working. She could have the whole house to herself.

Not that she didn’t love having them all home, of course. But sometimes she felt suffocated, like she couldn’t get anywhere to be alone. She tried not to think too much about what that could have meant for her past.

Instead she vowed to make the most of her time. That meant putting the recent attack behind her and getting the ice cream out of the freezer. Ottoman Empire was always running a marathon on  _ some _ channel, and Harry always had it on. Lena had, unfortunately, been drawn to it. It was the  _ stupidest _ show ever. And she couldn’t get enough of it. She nestled into the corner of the couch, already digging into the ice cream carton, ready for hours of brother drama in between nicely designed ottomans.

“Dios mío,” Nico sighed when he walked in and saw what Lena was watching.

“It’s good! You just have to find the deeper story.”

“Harry’s corrupted you. What a shame.” Nico shook his head, ruffling Lena’s hair before going to the kitchen. “What should we do for dinner tonight?”

“Baked mac and cheese.”

Nico chuckled. “I should have known better than to ask. It’s library day, right?”

“Yup. Violet forfeits her vote.”

“She’d side with you anyways.”

Harry came home not long after Nico, immediately joining Lena on the couch when he heard the opening tune of Ottoman Empire. “I need to introduce you both to good television,” Nico said, putting the casserole dish in the oven.

“Darkwing Duck isn’t good to television, mi amor.”

Nico said something very fast that Lena didn’t catch, and Harry chuckled, winking at Lena. She smiled back, leaning over after a hesitant moment and resting her head on his shoulder. 

Maybe letting them adopt her wouldn’t be so bad.

“Ah, look who’s finally home,” Nico called when Violet finally walked in. “Just in time, dinner is almost ready.”

“I’m actually going out again, if that’s okay. I met someone.”

It was interesting, watching Harry and Nico go from laid back to “DANGER ALERT” in zero seconds flat. “Someone like a  _ boy _ ?”

Violet resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “No, a like-minded  _ female _ individual who shares my interest in the supernatural and also happens to live at McDuck manor.”

“McDuck?” Harry immediately lit up. Lena was getting whiplash watching him. She shook her head, going to the kitchen to throw out the empty ice cream carton. “You made a friend who’s a McDuck?”

“Well, a ward. I think. Trusted sidekick, perhaps. Webigail Vanderquack.”

_ “I’m Webby!” _

Lena’s entire body felt numb, save for her chest, which was suddenly on fire.

_ “Her name’s Webby!” _

_ “Who cares? I mean, you don’t. You were just using her.” _

“Oh, I have to make something. Pie? Everyone likes pie!”

Harry’s sudden panic snapped Lena back to reality. There was still a dull ache in her chest, like the aftershock of being punched.

“Papi, I do not need a pie—”

“We were just about to eat,” Nico reminded his husband. “The pie can wait.” He looked at Lena, who was still frozen by the trash can. “Lena? Are you okay?”

“Um…” Lena took a deep breath, rubbing her chest. “Yeah, I’m just tired. Save me some food? I’m going to catch a nap.”

“Of course, pajarito rosa,” Harry said, frowning. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. I’m good. Enjoy your nerd stuff, Vi.”

“Thanks…” Violet said uncertainly as Lena made her way upstairs. The teen closed her bedroom door behind her and dropped onto the bed, rubbing her chest absentmindedly.

_ Webby _ .

She shook her head, rolling onto her side. It was nothing. And if it  _ was _ something, it wasn’t something she wanted anything to do with. Not if it made her feel like this.

The universe had given her an out. It had taken all of her memories, and essentially given her a fresh start. She had a family that loved her and wanted to keep her. Why was she even questioning it? Why bother trying to figure out her past? It would be easy enough to just let it all go, let Harry and Nico adopt her, and be done with it all. She’d never have to worry about any of this again.

Her eyes roamed the room, taking in the posters she had hung on the wall, the lava lamp on the dresser, along with six different pairs of earphones and one set of noise-canceling headphones, the blackout curtains blocking out the dying light as day faded to night. This was basically her room. She snuggled under the fuzzy purple weighted blanket she’d never given back to Violet (she had another one, it was fine), and closed her eyes, sighing.

This, she decided, was the only home she wanted. The past was the past. There was no point in obsessing over it.

She’d talk to Nico and Harry later.

* * *

Violet Sabrewing had never feared death.

Even on the beach, surrounded by shadows, she had somehow known she’d be okay. She was going to survive. And she had.

The dark look Webigail Vanderquack had given her before tackling her to the ground had thrown her ability to survive into question, though.

And things had been going so well up to this point. True, Webby was a little less adventurous than Violet had been expecting, and talking about anything magic related was difficult when the other girl kept dragging her from one mundane activity to another, but that had been fun. Ancient Runes Baggle hadn´t gone  _ great _ , but that also could have been worse.

Then Webby, mid-manic sprint, had tripped over Violet’s bag and knocked it over. And of course, the amulet had been right on top. Webby was studying shadow magic after all. Perhaps she would know something.

“Start talking,” Webby ordered, holding the amulet over Violet’s head. “ _ Now _ !”

She definitely knew something. Violet’s eyes moved between Webby and the amulet. She took a deep breath…

And chose the threat of death.

“Do you know what that is?”

Webby blinked, clearly stunned that Violet wasn’t terrified of her. “Do I know — do  _ you _ know what it is?! It’s dangerous! Why do you have it?”

“I found it on the beach. After the shadow war. Or during. I’m not sure what the timeline is.” Webby frowned down at her for a moment before moving to let Violet sit up. She drew her legs up loosely to her chest, sighing. “All my life, I've been rational, never giving things like magic a second thought. But when the Shadow War happened, it jolted something in me - opened my eyes. There's a world beyond textbooks and rational truths, one I'm compelled to know more about. Have you ever felt like you were living a sheltered life, but there was something incredible just out of reach?”

Webby stared hard at the amulet in her hand, fingers clenched around it, eyes tracing the crack. “You shouldn't mess with that amulet. I've already lost one friend to the Shadow Realm.”

Now she knew she was stepping into choppy waters. “Who was your friend?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Are they the reason you’re researching the Shadow Realm?”

“Yeah.” Webby sat with her legs crossed, still staring at the amulet. “She was a good person. It wasn’t her fault.” She shook her head. “It’s really complicated.”

“And you think she’s in the Shadow Realm?”

“I can’t think of anywhere else she would have ended up after what Magica did to her.” Darkness flashed through Webby’s eyes as she said the name. “But I haven’t had any luck so far. I keep thinking I’m so close…”

Tears filled her eyes, and she curled up tight, still staring at the amulet. Violet’s mind was working fast, putting pieces together. Webigail’s lost friend. Lena’s lost memories. What were the chances the two  _ weren’t _ related?

“I’m sorry,” she said. “My sister was hurt during the Shadow War, too. She didn’t disappear or anything but she’s… not okay, either.”

Magica de Spell had done a lot of damage that day — physical and emotional. Sometimes, Webby wished Scrooge hadn’t let her run away. She deserved more than to just wander around powerless. So much more. Possibly involving several blows to the head with a fist. Or a blunt object.

Webby tried to keep those dark thoughts under control. It wasn’t always easy.

“Is that why  _ you’re _ looking into the Shadow Realm? For your sister?”   


“Partially. I also want to learn more about this world that’s surrounded me my entire life. But I think there’s something that can help her as well.” Violet’s eyes fell to the amulet. “I don’t suppose you’re going to give that back.”

“Oh…” Webby looked at it as well, hesitating. “I… I really shouldn’t. It’s dangerous. Magica could come back for it. No one knows where she is right now. Scrooge should probably just put it in the other bin.”

“The what?”

“The place where he keeps all his really dangerous and magical stuff and no we’re definitely not going to go see  _ that _ .” Webby smiled sadly despite her tone. Violet had a feeling that had something to do with her lost friend.

“I don’t think I’m ready for that level of adventure, anyways. Running with your family sounds like it takes a lot.”

Webby giggled. “Yeah, it gets pretty wild. But it’s  _ so _ much fun! We get to see all kinds of new places and find lost villages and ancient cults and so many cool things. If you like learning about new things, it’d be perfect for you.”

“Hmm. Maybe someday,” Violet ceded. “Definitely no trips into mysterious  _ other bins _ , though.”

“No, you have to be at least a level three friend to get that.” Webby beamed. “So you don’t want to like, run away or anything? None of this is too weird?”

“Duckburg is a weird place. Admittedly, most of it  _ does _ revolve around Scrooge McDuck and his family, but after a while you just kind of have to get used to it.” Violet shrugged. “Besides, my sister won’t study magic with me, and there’s only so much you can do on your own.”

“I know that feeling. So should we cut into that pie?”

“I think my father’s feelings would be hurt if we didn’t.”

* * *

Violet left McDuck Manor early the next morning with a promise to call Webby soon about getting together again. A line of tired boys were walking in as she was leaving, followed by their uncle. The boy in the blue shirt paused, giving Violet a Look.

“Who’re you?”

“Violet Sabrewing.” She introduced herself promptly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Be nice to her!” Webby ordered as she came out of the dining room. “She’s my friend.”

“Really? I didn’t think you were ever going to get over Le—”

The boy was cut off immediately by both of his brothers grabbing his beak to hold it shut. Webby winced, sadness flashing across her expression for a moment before she put her mask back on, turning to Scrooge.

“Violet found Magica’s amulet. I thought it should probably go in the other bin.”

“Aye,” Scrooge agreed darkly. “It’ll be best for everyone involved if that cursed thing never sees the light of day again.”

Violet’s phone buzzed; it was a text from Lena.  _ Please get home before they smother me to death. _

_ What happened?  _ Violet sent back. The boys were yawning and making their way up the stairs, all waving over their shoulders to Violet.

_ I told them I want to be adopted _ .

“Oh!” Violet didn’t mean to say that out loud. “I… really have to get going, family thing. I’ll text you later, Webigail.”

“Okay, bye!” Webby called after Violet, waving as she ran out the door and down the driveway. Scrooge closed the door, looking back at Webby with a sad smile.

“Are you okay?”

Webby let her own smile fall; she sighed, sitting on the stairs. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, it’s nice to have a friend again. And I’m glad we have the amulet and it can’t hurt anyone else. And Violet is awesome. But she’s…”

“Not Lena.” Webby nodded. Scrooge rested a hand on her head before joining her on the stairs. “I know you miss her, lass. And I know you’re still trying to bring her back. But take it from me, obsession can and will ruin your life. Don’t lose yourself. You’re too young for that.”

Webby looked up at him, nodding silently, then scooted closer to hug him. “I know. Don’t worry.”

Scrooge squeezed her tight, holding her close. He’d worried a lot about Webby after the Shadow War, but of course she had proven to be better than him.

Maybe this new friend would be the start of her journey to move on.

* * *

“¡Bienvenido a casa, mi pequeño colibrí!”

Violet yelped as Harry scooped her up, spinning around and hugging her. “Papi! Be careful, my bag—”

“You’re just in time, though!”

“For what?”

“Just got off the phone with Sun,” Lena said dryly, leaning against the kitchen door. “Adoption is a go. I think Nico is still crying.”

“Ah, pajarito rosa.” Harry raised a finger. “You’re our daughter. You can call us Papi and Papá.”

“Yeah, uh…” Lena shifted uncomfortably. “Can we maybe go slow on that one? I mean, you guys  _ are _ my dads, don’t get me wrong, but labels and words and…”

She knew it didn’t make any sense, but Harry smiled, finally setting Violet down. “We’ll do this at your speed, Lena. Don’t worry.” He clapped his hands together. “And now that Violet is home, we can have a proper celebration!”

Violet and Lena exchanged glances.  _ Proper celebration _ usually meant a huge meal that no one could finish, and they spent days after eating leftovers. “Papi, maybe don’t cook as much this time? Although I’m sure the neighbors enjoyed the homemade magdalenas…”

“It’s not a meal if there’s no food left after everyone is done eating,” Harry informed Violet. “To the kitchen, both of you. I’ll need as many hands as we can spare. And Violet can tell us about her sleepover.”

“You only want to know if she met Scrooge McDuck,” Lena teased, raising an eyebrow.

“Which, I did,” Violet added. “Albeit briefly. Webigail said something about binventory. I ran into him as I was leaving.”

Harry all but lit up. “What was he like?”

“Scottish.”

Lena coughed to hide a laugh, hurrying ahead of them into the kitchen. Violet followed, ignoring her father’s questions as she turned things over in her head. Webigail’s lost friend. Dewey’s near slip of her name before his brothers stopped him. “ _ Le— _ ” Lena’s memories. If it was really all connected… then what was the right thing to do?

The obvious answer was to tell someone her suspicions. Webby could be the key to unlocking Lena’s past. She could probably answer at least half the questions Lena had about herself. Not telling Lena would be awful.

But…

_ “It’s really complicated.” _

_ “And you think she’s in the Shadow Realm?” _

_ “I can’t think of anywhere else she would have ended up after what Magica did to her.”  _

Something terrible had happened to Webby’s friend. Something terrible had happened to Lena. Was it better to let her live not knowing what that terrible thing was? Was it better for Webby to just keep thinking Lena was lost? Would Violet really be helping anyone if she told them the truth?

But would she be helping if she kept it a secret?

“Vi, come on!” Lena called from the kitchen, shaking Violet out of her thoughts. “I need a little help in here!”

Violet hurried into the kitchen, not entirely surprised to see Lena in Nico’s arms and squished between both men as they hugged her tight. She was  _ happy _ . No matter how much of a cool teenager act she put on, she was thrilled to be part of their family. She was happy to have a life.

Would it be cruel to dangle hope in front of her when there was no real guarantee that Webby could actually help?

“Violet, come help me with the pancakes,” Nico said, waving her over while Harry set to work with teaching Lena about traditional Spanish breakfast foods.

“Coming, Papá.”

Violet put on a smile, joining Nico at the counter. This was a time to celebrate. She didn’t need to figure out  _ all _ the answers right then.

There’d be plenty of time in six hours when they were still trying to finish all the food they were about to make.


	4. The Past Won't Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets and bad decisions collide. Oops.

_ “You’re not my niece! You’re  _ nothing _!” _

_ Something slams into her stomach, fire burning through her body…  _

Lena’s eyes snapped open as she gasped, her hand automatically going to her chest as the pain followed her from her dream. Or maybe the pain had seeped  _ into _ the dream.

_ Deep breath. Breathe through the pain. You’re okay. Breathe. Breathe _ .

It took them a moment, but finally the pain began to ebb, and Lena sat up slowly, blowing out a long breath. She scooted to sit on the edge of the bed and pulled the curtain back to look outside. The moon lit up the backyard, casting it in a washed out white light. There was a swingset in one corner, a relic from Violet’s carefree childhood days that Harry kept out of a sentimental nostalgia. Set off to the side, accessible from a glass door in the living room, was an impressively large patio, complete with a table, built in seating, and a grill. They used to have cookouts, Violet had told Lena when she had asked. Usually they had an end of summer barbecue, but the end of summer had been Lena’s fourth month in the house, and they hadn’t wanted to overwhelm her. They’d have one as soon as the weather was good enough, Violet had said reassuringly before Lena could start feeling too bad about being an inconvenience. 

It was mostly an unconscious thought that carried Lena into the backyard. She carefully slid the back door open and stepped out, settling onto one of the cushioned seats and looking up at the sky. The full moon always made her feel better. No one could explain it — moods dependent on the moon cycle weren’t exactly a common thing. At the other end of the scale, the new moon usually left Lena feeling exhausted and depressed. She always ended up in bed early on those nights. Yet another oddity.

_ But Harry and Nico still want me _ . The thought filled her with warmth, especially after that dream.

_ “You’re  _ nothing _!” _

A memory? Her subconscious trying to torture her with her own thoughts and fears? There was no way to know, and while that bothered Lena slightly, she was learning to get over it. She was making peace with the fact that she might never remember. It wasn’t the best way to live, but looking forward was so much better than being focused on the past.

She was moving forward from something that was probably terrible. She didn’t need to remember it.

She was happy now.

* * *

“I’m just saying, I think you could talk to Papi and Papá about skipping forward a grade.”

Lena looked down at the paper in her hand. She had no school records, of course; there had been a lot of testing that had determined she was probably around the eighth grade level, same as Violet.

“Math is easy.” She handed the algebra test to Violet. “It’s just memorizing formulas and stuff.”

“This is honors algebra, that’s not  _ easy _ .”

Lena shrugged. “You get to be a genius, why can’t I?”

“I have a natural mind for sorting facts.  _ You _ appear to have perfect recall and the ability to apply what you’ve learned where needed.”

“Let’s take a moment to appreciate that you just said the girl with complete and total amnesia has perfect recall.”

“I recognize the irony. But I stand by my point.” Violet handed the test back. “It doesn’t just apply to school, either. You knew how to speak perfect Spanish when you moved in, and that was hours after getting out of the hospital. Perhaps you can subconsciously recall things you knew before whatever happened.”

“Too bad I can’t recall anything  _ important _ .”

“It may be a starting point, though. You should talk to Dr. Lorikeet about it. She may have more ideas. When’s your next appointment?”

“Next week. She wants to try every other week for a little while to see how I cope.”

“What a week to start that.”

“Seriously.” Lena snorted. “She said I could go in if I wanted, what with the whole adoption thing and everything, but… I dunno, I don’t really feel like I  _ need _ to? The sessions are always the same thing, we talk about how I don’t remember anything and how annoying it is, she gives me more memory exercises that aren’t working, lather, rinse, repeat.” The teen shrugged. “I don’t know, Vi, honestly, I think I’m starting to get over it. Or maybe not  _ over _ it, exactly, just…”

“Coming to terms with it.” Violet nodded. “That’s not a bad thing.”

“I don’t think so, either. Even if I  _ do _ have a family, they’re clearly not looking for me. No one misses me.”

Violet thought back to Webby’s wistful, sad tone as she spoke about her lost best friend. It was possible Lena wasn’t entirely right about not being missed.

* * *

“Papi?”

Harry looked up from his book. Nico was working late — the perils of having a doctor husband — and he’d  _ thought _ both girls had gone to bed early, leaving him to settle into bed as well.

“I thought you were asleep, colibrí?”

Violet shrugged, walking into the room and climbing onto the bed, legs dangling over the edge. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure. Kind of.” Harry raised an eyebrow. Violet wasn’t usually the evasive type. “I… have a theory about something important. But if I’m wrong, it’s really going to hurt people. And if I’m right… it’s still going to hurt people. I’m not sure what to do.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me the theory?” Harry asked. Violet didn’t answer. “Is it about Lena?”

“In a way.” Violet tangled her fingers together, staring at the floor. “I know it’s not my place to keep secrets…”

“But you want to protect her,” Harry finished. He understood that urge completely. Even letting Lena go to school had been difficult. She was so fragile sometimes. It worried him. “Do you want to protect her if you’re right, or if you’re wrong?”

“Both.”

“Ah. That… makes it a little more difficult.” Violet nodded. “I will not push you to tell me, Violet. I trust your judgment, and I trust you to do the right thing.”

“You’re really not going to make me tell you?”   


Harry shook his head. “I know you, mi pequeño colibrí. You’ve never done anything you don’t want to do or told us anything you didn’t want to tell us. You’re stubborn to a fault, and there is no point in pushing you. I trust you’ll talk to Lena, or to us, when you’re ready.”

Violet smiled. This was one of the many reasons she truly loved her fathers. They trusted her to know when she was in over her head and that she could always,  _ always _ go to them no matter what. “Thank you, Papi.”

“Did I help at all?”

“It helped to talk out loud.” Violet crawled over to hug Harry tight. Harry kissed the top of her head, enjoying this moment. Violet’s physical affection had been growing more and more infrequent as she had gotten older. Her personality had gone a lot in the way of Nico’s, who had always been logical and analytical.

At least she was still willing to talk to them.

* * *

“What’re you doing, Lena?”

“Huh?” She looked up, shaken out of her trance. “Oh, sorry, am I—”

“You’re fine,” Nico assured her, resting a hand on her head. She was sitting between the couch and coffee table, Ottoman Empire playing in the background while she… well, it  _ had _ started out as a desire to just fiddle with some string. Somehow she had ended up getting two different colors and had begun to wind them together. She had several different fidget-y habits she partook in when she was feeling restless (they had bought her several fidget cubes after her first few sessions with Dr. Lorikeet), but string was a new one. “It looks like you’re making something?”

“Yeah, I guess I am. I was playing with some yarn Harry left out, and next thing I know I’ve got this whole thing going on.” She waved her hand to the intertwined yarn, forming a repeated purple and green pattern. Nico sat on the couch, watching with his head tilted. “I know it’s not, ya know, perfect or anything, but it felt right to make.”

“The colors are very you.” Nico didn’t want to push, but it seemed like something was kicking in her memories. “Where’d you learn how to do that?”

“Looked it up on my phone. It took a while to find the one I wanted.” She finished, looping off the end. “What do you think?”

“Not bad for your first try.”

Lena grinned, wrapping the bracelet around her wrist. “I think it’s perfect.”

She really was such a sweet girl, Nico thought with a sad smile. What kind of family wouldn’t want her back? How could no one be looking for this child?

Well. Their loss. He tugged Lena in for a hug. She put up a half-hearted, teenage-mandatory protest even as she returned the hug.

Violet stood at the door, watching Lena and Nico hug. She was happy. It was entirely possible she held the key to Lena’s past — to the memories she’d lost, even to someone who missed her and loved her. The key to a life Lena might not want to remember. She couldn’t ruin Lena’s happiness.

But she couldn’t keep this secret, either. The way Webby had talked about her lost friend… it clearly ate away at her that she hadn’t been able to save her. And Lena  _ deserved _ to know the truth. Or at least to make the choice.

* * *

“Lena, why do you hate magic?”

Lena looked up from her phone, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you asking?”

“It’s just… odd, don’t you think? You don’t remember anything, but you still hate magic. It’s a very specific thing to retain.”

“Who cares? If I don’t like it, I don’t like it.”

“But what if it has something to do with your past? Or why you don’t remember? Or—”

“Why do you have to be so pushy about it?” Lena snapped, scowling. “Who cares if it’s some deep fear or if I was just traumatized by a fake witch when I was three or something?”

“I thought you would,” Violet said quietly. “Don’t you want to remember?”

“I don’t know.” Lena threw her hands up, flopping back on her bed. “Maybe I don’t. Maybe I’m happy with the way things are  _ now _ . Maybe it doesn’t matter what happened to me. I was ditched by people who clearly don’t care, and it worked out for the better. I’m happy. I’m allowed to be happy, aren’t I?”

“Of course you are.” Violet frowned. It felt like Lena was talking about more than just this one issue. “Are you okay?”

“I’m just…  _ tired _ of thinking about the past. Or the lack of it. Maybe I don’t want to know who I was. Maybe I’m better not knowing. Maybe I’m just  _ better _ . I like where I am. I like who I am. I don’t want to chase the past anymore.”

She couldn’t tell her. “That’s understandable. I apologize. I won’t ask about it anymore.”

Violet was a lot of things. Logical was absolutely one of them. And logically, she knew she should tell Lena her theories. Lena deserved to know.

But even she had her downfalls. Emotions clouded logic. And she loved Lena. She had started calling Lena her sister long before the adoption had been put on the table. She wanted to protect Lena. And if this was the way to do it…

Then Violet would take her suspicions to the grave.

* * *

“Heeeeeeeeeey Webby!”

Webby looked up from her book as the boys bounced into the room, grinning. “Guess what we got?” Dewey said excitedly.

“Um… cursed by the golden statue I told you not touch?”

“What? No. Not yet at least.” Dewey shook the thought off.

“We got a new boat!” Huey burst out, unable to help himself. “Big enough for all of us. There’s a compartment  _ under _ the deck! We were gonna take it out for an inaugural run tomorrow. You in?”

“Oh…” Webby looked down at her book, frowning. “Tomorrow’s library day. I don’t think…”

“You can skip it for a week,” Dewey said gently. None of them wanted to be the first to say that Webby’s research was probably useless. Lena was gone.

But Webby couldn’t give up hope.

“It’ll do you some good to take a break,” Huey added. “You can come back at it with a new angle.”

“And you can’t read all the time,” Louie concluded. “ _ And _ it can be a lowkey adventure without any possibility of death.”

“But that’s what makes it fun!” Webby protested, looking at her friendship bracelet. Lena wouldn’t want her to just spend all her time working and going on adventures. She had to have fun too… right?

* * *

"I still can't believe you go to the  _ beach _ ."

Violet shrugged. "There are a lot of nice places to read."

"So why'd you bring me? You know I'm not into the nerd stuff."

"Papi said Dr. Lorikeet is worried about your adversion to outside. Something about agoraphobia?"

"What?" Lena made a noise of disgust. "It's not  _ that _ bad."

"It may not kill you to get out every once in a while."

"I go to school. And therapy."

"And home. That's three places. Even I change it up and go to the library once a week."

“Living on the edge, Vi.”

Somewhere further down the beach, a group of ducklings were excitedly packing their new boat, readying to take it out on its very first adventure. "Compass."

"Check."

"Map."

"Check."

"Webby."

"Check!" Webby said excitedly. The boys had retired their old boat in favor of getting a bigger one just to fit her. It made her feel warm and special.

"Louie, stop holding the map."

"I'm just looking!"

"Yeah, and next thing you know we're lost at sea."

"Oooooooooh, I could help you guys survive," Webby assured them. "First rule of being lost at sea - don't drink seawater. It dehydrates you faster and makes you crazy."

Wait, really?”

Huey stood up in the boat, tilting his head when he saw two figures walking down the beach, clearly deep in conversation. He raised his binoculars, curious. "Hey Webby, I think it's your... friend.... Violet...."

Dewey looked up as his brother's voice turned faint. "Uh, Hubert? You okay?"

Huey blinked a few times, then handed the binoculars to Dewey, who took them and looked in the same direction. "That's.... that can't be...."

"What's with you two?" Louie asked, looking between them. Dewey just silently handed the binoculars back to him, and he took a look. "Holy ssshhhhLena?!"

Webby whipped around, eyes flaring. "That's not funny."

"I'm not  _ kidding _ ."

The duo was close enough at this point that the binoculars almost weren't necessary. Webby turned to look; she'd recognize that streak of pink hair anywhere. Every single nerve in her body went haywire. She was burning hot and freezing cold, trapped in place and desperate to move, wanting to scream with joy and cry and cling to Lena and-

_ Get answers _ .

"Violet!"

The small bird froze, looking forward, her expression falling when she saw the four kids getting ready for their adventure. Lena stopped as well, taking a picture of the sun over the water. "Your new nerd friends?" she guessed. She hadn't seen their faces yet.

"Um... sort of. Yeah." Although possibly not for much longer. Webby had recovered and was charging forward, though not to hit Violet, thankfully.

" _ Lena _ !"

She tackled Lena so hard, it nearly sent them both falling to the ground. "Whoa!" Lena caught herself, barely saving her phone, and looking down at the girl in surprise. "Uh... I guess personal space isn't a thing?"

Webby hadn't seen it yet, but the boys did. Lena didn't look twice at any of them. She was too focused on her phone and taking pictures. She'd barely given them a glance, as if...

As if she didn't recognize them.

"Webigail," Violet said quietly, her voice full of shame. "There's... something I need to tell you."

"About what?" Webby pulled away, looked at her, then looked at Lena, who still looked absolutely bewildered. And the pieces started falling into place. "You.... You do... know me.... right?"

"Should I?" Lena sounded honestly confused. Everyone present could hear the small crack of Webby's heart breaking.

"Lena it's... it's me. Webby. Your friend." Tears filled her eyes. "Remember?"

"Um..." Lena looked at Violet, helpless. Violet bowed her head. The choice was out of all their hands now.

“Let’s sit down and talk.”


	5. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The road to answers is a rocky one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, something I should have mentioned in the beginning - I'm ignoring most of season two. Della still comes home, but Donald isn't gone, they've had their reunion, the Duck family drama is going on in the background because.... well, it's fanfic and I can do what I want. Besides, Lena doesn't need an alien invasion while she's trying to figure her life out.
> 
> I'm just so excited that I couldn't wait to publish this chapter, so.... enjoy!
> 
> TW: brief mention of vomiting

Her entire body felt like it had been shredded and pieced crudely back together. It took her a moment to find her hands and push herself up. Hands. She had hands. They were shaking violently. But they were hands. And they were hers.

Her chest ached. She felt light-headed. And that was how she realized she had lungs. She gasped and coughed, nearly falling again. But she caught herself at the last minute, leaning heavily on her right arm. Legs. She had legs. Feet. Shoes. She was wearing a dark, striped sweater, covered in dirt. She stumbled up, catching herself on a tree when the world spun; she leaned over, dry heaving and coughing. She felt  _ terrible _ . Her knees went weak, and she slid down the tree, closing her eyes. What had  _ happened _ ?

Light swept over her closed eyelids. “Oh! Are you okay? M’ma!” That last part was shouted, and Lena winced. “I found someone!”

A hand rested on her shoulder, steadying her. “Hey, what’s your name? Can you look at me?”

Name. She had a name. What was her name? “Um…” She raised a hand, cracking her eyes open to see someone with light brown feathers kneeling in front of her, watching her with concern. Someone else was walking toward them.

And it was all too much. She let her eyes flutter shut again as darkness consumed her.

The next thing she saw, when she opened her eyes again, was a dimly lit, tiled ceiling. She stared at it blearily, trying to get an idea of her surroundings without looking. Her clothes had been changed — whatever she was wearing was much lighter than her sweater. She could hear quiet murmuring, footsteps, soft beeping noises.

Then, a voice. “Hey, you’re awake.”

She dared to turn her head, wincing, and saw the man who had found her in the woods — she thought. Everything was kind of blurry. He was standing beside her bed, looking tired but cheery, a coffee cup in one hand.

“Yeah, guess I am.” She raised her hands to scrub her eyes, realizing too late she was hooked to an IV.

“Watch out.” The man tried to grab the IV pole as it tipped, forgetting he was holding coffee, and the cup slipped from his hand, spilling mostly on his shirt with still quite a bit on the floor. “Aaaahhhh… whoops.” He chuckled weakly.

“Fenton,” another voice sighed. There was a woman standing in the door, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at the young man. “How do these things happen?”

“Heh. Luck?”

The woman shook her head. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up?”

It was more of an order than a suggestion. “Yes M’ma.” He flashed a quick smile before leaving, and the woman made her way into the room. The woman gave her a gentle smile.

“I’m Officer Cabrera. What’s your name?”

Her name. She had a name. She had a name. “Um…” She pressed the free hand to her temple. Her head  _ hurt _ . “Lena.” It came to her in a flash. The officer nodded, jotting her name down.

“Last name?”

Again, she came up blank for a moment. Unlike her first name, however, her last didn’t come to her. “I… I don’t know,” she stuttered, blinking rapidly. Officer Cabrera frowned lightly.

“Are you okay?” Lena nodded slowly. “Do you know your parents’ names?” Parents. She had parents. Right? But again, she drew a blank. “Any family? Friends?”

Panic slowly built with each word. “No… no no no.” Lena shook her head, curling in on herself. “I don’t know. Why don’t I know?”

One of the monitors she was attached to beeped sharply, her breathing speeding up, her entire body shaking. “Ssshhh, sh sh sh,” Officer Cabrera said gently, sitting down on the edge of the bed and leaning forward so she was eye level with the girl. “Look at me, Lena.” It was hard to focus, but she managed. “It’s okay. There’s someone out there looking for you. We’ll find them. I promise.” Lena took a few deep breaths, nodding. “I’m going to make some calls and see if we can find a bed for you to stay in for a couple days. Hospitals aren’t particularly relaxing.”

She gave Lena a faint smile and ruffled her hair before standing, making her way out of the room.

**_Present_ **

Everyone was staring at Violet as she finished her story. The boys were sitting on the edge of the boat, mouths hanging open. Webby was next to the boat looking like she was going to cry. And Lena was standing away from all of them, staring at Violet as if seeing her for the first time.

“How long have you known about this?” she finally asked in a quiet voice that could only mean danger was ahead.

“To be fair, I don’t really  _ know _ anything, it was just a hypothesis—”

“Cut it, Violet.”

Lena was tall. It was easy to forget sometimes, because she always seemed to make herself a smaller. But now she was standing straight up, towering over Violet by at least a foot. And for the first time, it occurred to Violet just how  _ little _ she knew about her sister.

“How. Long.”

“About a month,” Violet finally admitted, shoulders falling.

“A month. And it never crossed your mind that  _ maybe _ you should ask  _ me _ about this?”

“It crossed my mind a lot, actually. You said you were happy. You said you wanted to move on.”

“I didn’t know there as an  _ option _ ! You had no right to take that away!”

“I was trying to protect you,” Violet said quietly.

“I don’t need protection, I need you to be  _ honest _ with me!”

“Um, okay,” Huey spoke up uncertainly. “Maybe we should step back—”

“Stay out of it,” Lena snapped. “This doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

“Hey, we watched you  _ die _ ,” Dewey shot back. “We’re just as messed up about this as you.”

“Oh yeah.” The sarcasm was heavy in Lena’s voice. “I’m sure  _ you _ understand what it’s like to walk around and have to blindly trust people because you don’t remember your own life!”

“Please stop.”

The tiny, two-word request stopped everyone; they all turned to look at Webby, who had tears swimming in her eyes. Her gaze was fixed on Lena. “Webby?” Dewey said uncertainly. Lena used the distraction to rip her stare away from the duckling and run down the beach.

“Lena!” Violet started to go after her, but Huey rested a hand on her shoulder.

“I… think she needs a minute. She’s probably going to amphitheater. We can find her later.”

“How do you know that?”

“You said she has random habits and does things without any reason?” Violet nodded. “She used to live there. It’s something familiar, even if she doesn’t realize it.”

“Webby?” Dewey tried again. “Are you okay?”

“She’s alive,” Webby whispered shakily.

“Yeah… that’s a good thing, right?”

Webby dragged her hand across her eyes. “She doesn’t remember me.”

“I think she does, in a way,” Violet disagreed. “May I see your bracelet?”

“My… oh.” Webby looked at her wrist for a moment before taking the bracelet off and handing it to Violet. The little bird examined the bracelet closely.

“Lena made a bracelet almost exactly like this last week,” she finally said, giving it back to Webby. “The pattern is a little off, but it  _ was _ the first time she tried to make one. The colors are different as well.”

“What colors?” Webby asked anxiously.

“Purple and green.”

Webby almost lit up. “I made her a bracelet with those colors!”

Violet nodded. “I had a feeling it was something she’d had before.”

“So the memories are definitely there somewhere,” Huey concluded. “We just have to help her find them.”

“Why?”

Everyone turned to look at Louie, who was frowning at the sand. “What do you mean  _ why _ ?”

“Why make her remember any of that? She’s happier not knowing, and maybe we’re all safer if she’s living in some little suburb thinking she’s just a normal teenager.”

“She was never  _ dangerous _ to us. Magica was using her.”

“Magica  _ made _ her. What if she can, I dunno,  _ control _ Lena or something?”

“Then she’ll do that whether she remembers or not.”

“It doesn’t matter how  _ we _ feel,” Webby cut in, scrubbing her eyes. “It’s her choice. And she’s right. We can’t take that away from her.”

The boys and Violet exchanged guilty looks. “I made a mistake,” Violet said. “I don’t want to make another.”

“Then let’s go find her.”

* * *

Lena wandered aimlessly around the theater, frowning faintly. It felt familiar here. Why did it feel familiar? Why—

Her foot sunk slightly as she stepped on a loose panel; a trapdoor in the stage popped up, and Lena whirled to look at it in surprise. Except it didn’t  _ feel _ like a surprise.

She tried not to think about that as she opened the door completely and descended the stairs.

There was a lightswitch right as she walked in; she flipped it, and the small, pathetic room lit up in a blue light. It wasn’t much — an old and peeling poster that Lena brushed her fingers along as she walked. A rickety desk with a long dead plant and… a lava lamp. She thought about the one on her dresser at home, and wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. She turned away to look at the bed, and saw a book on the mattress.

The first page was a surprisingly detailed, pencil-drawn landscape of rocks — a mountain, although Lena couldn’t say how she was so sure of that. She flipped to another page, and another drawing, this one of an eclipse, the sun half covered by the moon. The third page was her name, in her own handwriting, written over and over and over, as if the writer had been practicing.  _ Lena. Lena. Lena. Lena. Lena _ .

And on it went. It was mostly drawings, with short entries sometimes hidden with in the pictures, as if the person didn’t want someone to know they were writing. 

_ Aunt Magica is angry I got arrested again _ in a picture of a faceless shadow behind a set of bars, a second shadow looming menacingly over her.

_ She still won’t use my name _ in a detailed drawing of a sunset over water. The menacing shadow was in this one as well. It was in a lot of the drawings, as if haunting the pages.

_ Six months left  _ in a picture of a gravestone set in front of a setting sun.

Finally, a page with just writing on it.  _ To end the line of Clan McDuck _ …

“She sought a token of his luck,” Lena whispered out.  _ Get the dime get the dime get the dime _ echoed in her head.

“Lena?”

She jumped up, surprised, and hid the book behind her back, as if she were doing something wrong. Webby smiled.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She shuffled uncertainly. “I know you’re really upset, and you have every right to be, but if… if you want to know more… I’d like to help however I can. I don’t know  _ everything _ , but I know a few things.”

Lena looked at her for a long moment, then back at the book, back at the page. Her eyes sought out the last line like she already knew what she was looking for. Maybe she did.

_ I walk the earth and wield her power to bring about McDuck's last hour _ .

“Was… Was I a good person?”

She looked up to meet Webby’s gaze. Webby smiled shakily.

“You were, and still are, one of the best and bravest people I’ve ever known.” 

She held her hand out. Lena closed the book and tucked it under her arm, taking Webby’s offered hand.

* * *

It was a rare, peaceful day in McDuck Manor. Even Della, for once in her entire life, was quietly sitting in the den with her uncle, brother, and Beakley, enjoying the quiet. Well, as quiet as it could get while the siblings bickered over pictures of the boys.

“Why would you let  _ any of them _ play football?! They’re small!”

“I was trying to be supportive!”

Scrooge sighed contently, sipping his tea. “Isn’t this nice, Bentina?”

“If you say so, sir,” Beakley said without looking up from her knitting. The sound of the front door opening was a bit of a surprise. The kids had said they would be gone all day.

“Uncle Scrooge?” That was Webby, sounding nervous.

“In the den. Is everything okay?”

Webby peeked into the room, shuffling a bit before moving to let the rest of the kids come into sight. They’d picked up two more. The little purple bird Webby had recently met — Violet? — and…

_ “Dude, I wish I had your family.” _

_ … _

_ “Not again! Don’t send me back!” _

“Um…” Webby waved an uncertain hand. “You met Violet at our last sleepover and this is…”

Her voice drifted off when she saw the looks on Scrooge’s and Beakley’s faces.

_ “I know a bad influence when I see one. Those are good kids with bright futures.” _

_ “Yeah? And what does that make me? _ ”

Lena shrunk back, grimacing. “They’re staring…”

“They saw you die. They’re a little confused.” Webby squeezed her arm. “Lena survived.”

“We can see that,” Scrooge said faintly. “ _ How _ ?”

“No one is entirely sure,” Violet spoke up quietly. “She was found outside of town brought to the hospital. When no one could figure out where she belonged, my fathers agreed to take her in for a little bit, and it’s turned into a permanent arrangement.”

“She doesn’t really remember anything about… anything,” Webby added.

Donald and Della exchanged looks. Della hadn’t known the teen, but Webby had told her stories, and she was clearly a sensitive subject. “Maybe we should…”

“Yeah.” Donald stood, Della right behind him. “Come on, boys, let’s give them some privacy.”

“What?”

“But we—”

“Can talk about it later,” Della interrupted. Lena was clearly skittish and ready to bolt. They didn’t need an audience. Webby gave the twins a grateful smile. Less people might make this a little easier.

Everyone was quiet until the family was out of earshot. “Why don’t you take a seat?” Beakley suggested, gesturing to the couch. The girls sat, Lena curling into the corner of the couch. Something about this place seemed familiar… but she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.

“Oh, wait. Lena, this is my grandmother, and this is—”

“Scrooge McDuck.” Lena’s voice was dry. “I’d have to be braindead not to know that.”

“Our father is a bit of a fan,” Violet said.

“ _ Bit _ ,” Lena scoffed.

“Okay, a  _ lot _ of a fan.”

“You seem to collect those.” Mrs. Beakley raised an eyebrow at Scrooge, who chuckled.

“It’s a side effect of my lifestyle.” He waved it off. “Not the point, though.”

“Right.” Eyes turned to Lena, who wished she could sink into the couch and disappear. “Let’s start at the beginning. What  _ do _ you remember?”

“Um…” Lena rubbed the back of her head, then started tangling her fingers together. Violet dug through her bag for a moment, reaching across Webby to hand a cube to Lena. “You make it really hard to stay mad at you,” Lena grumbled as she took the cube and began clicking a button on the side. “I woke up in the woods. I don’t know where exactly I was, the officer said it was near the edge of town, though. I don’t remember much of that either, to be honest. Everything hurt and I felt terrible.”

“Who found you?”

Lena flipped the cube, spinning the joystick and trying to think. “He told me his name. I was in the hospital and still pretty confused, though. I think he was related to the cop…”

“Brown feathers, ye tall, trips over his own two feet?” Webby asked, gesturing a completely random height.

“He spilled coffee on himself trying to stop the IV pole from falling over.”

“Fenton,” Webby and Scrooge said at the same time. 

“That’s it, yeah. He stayed with me until the social worker showed up to take me to Violet’s. And that’s about as far back as my memory goes.”

“She was found not long after Magica de Spell was defeated,” Violet added helpfully. A shudder ran up Lena’s spine at the name, and she ducked her head to focus on the cube, flipping it to click something. “That seems to be where her memories start, as far as anyone can tell.”

“I have dreams sometimes. They’re not much, usually just shadows and a voice. None of it ever makes sense, though.”

“She also has random habits and abilities that no one can really explain. How many languages have we figured out you speak?”

“Um…” Lena made a face, counting on her fingers. “Four, including English. Basically, there are a lot of pieces and no context.”

“We can probably give you some context,” Beakley said quietly. “Although I can’t say for sure you’ll like what you learn.”

Lena shrugged, sinking deeper into th seat. “Not like things can get much worse, Tea Time.”

She immediately sat up straighter, blinking in surprise, and looked up to meet Beakley’s shocked gaze. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

Webby erupted into giggles. “ _ That _ is definitely old Lena. I’m pretty sure you never used Granny’s actual name.”

Violet dug a notebook out of her bag, pulling out a pen and flipping it open to start taking notes. “We try to keep track of the things that seem like they’re from her past,” she explained as she wrote.

“Good to see some things never change,” Beakley said dryly. “Where should we begin?”

Lena looked back at the cube, expression falling. “Do I… have any family? At all?”

Of course she had chosen one of the hardest questions. Scrooge and Beakley exchanged looks. Webby had told them about the journal, and what they had discovered about Lena. Not that it was hard to guess after what Scrooge had seen.

They just hoped she was ready for that truth.


	6. Put it together, watch it fall apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena finally learns more about who she is. The answers are... not good.

“You referred to Magica de Spell as your aunt,” Scrooge began slowly, “although I’m not sure if that was by choice or force.”

_ You’re not my family! You’re  _ nothing _! _

Pain twinged in Lena’s chest, and she grimaced for a moment before nodding. Scrooge hesitated before continuing. “We never got a chance to talk to you about it, but from what we can tell, Magica created you from her shadow. She was too weak after the fight, and I’d managed to catch her the dime — I thought. But some part of her stayed behind, created you, and left you with some of her powers.”

Violet froze, looking up from her notebook, but it was Lena who said, “The amulet,” in a breathless tone. Thank god Violet wasn’t the “I told you so” type.

Scrooge nodded. “Again, a lot of this is a guess based on what Webby and the boys learned from your journal. The only two people who can really answer any of these questions are you and Magica.”

Lena hesitated, gripping the cube in her hand. “So why don’t I remember?”

“That we honestly can’t answer,” Mrs. Beakley took over. “Mr. McDuck saw Magica reabsorb you into her shadow, but I suppose you were too stubborn to let go. You came back when Webby was in danger and…”

“You saved my life,” Webby said quietly. “Mine and Dewey’s. We saw Magica blast you and you just… disappeared.”

Her voice wavered on the last word. Lena felt bad, and then confused about feeling bad. What did she care if some stranger was upset?

“So you disappeared after Magica hit you with some attack,” Violet said, summing up her notes. “Presumably you reformed in the woods and woke up. But how did you end up  _ there _ ?”

“Do you remember where  _ there _ was?” Webby added. Lena shook her head.

“I didn’t see much. Just a couple of trees.”

“Well, isn’t it lucky we know the person who found you,” Scrooge said, pulling out his cell phone. “Hopefully Fenton isn’t busy.”

“Is anything starting to sound familiar?” Webby asked anxiously. Lena felt bad about shaking her head.

“I’m sorry. Nothing is really clicking.” She pressed a hand to her head.

“Are you—?”

“Headache. They happen all the time.”

“Fenton’s on his way over,” Scrooge reported, putting his phone away. “Maybe he can help shed some light on this.”

“So you’ve just been living with Violet’s family all this time?” Beakley asked. Lena shrugged and nodded.

“Yeah. No one was looking for me, so they called a social worker. I was just lucky enough to end up with the Sabrewings.”

Webby tried not to be too hurt, but she couldn’t help the slight tug at her heart when Lena said no one was looking for her. Webby had been looking for months.

Just in the wrong places, apparently.

Lena looked back at the journal, flipping through it absently. She paused on another page, scribbled almost entire black, save for a set of eyes and words etched into the black.

_ I’m turning into her _ .

“Dr. Lorikeet would have a freaking field day with this thing,” she muttered.

“When  _ is _ your next appointment, anyways?”

“Not nearly soon enough.” Lena slammed the book shut, resting her forehead against it. “I can’t believe this. All this time…” 

She lowered the book to stare at it. “So am I even  _ real _ ?”

“Of course you are!” Webby burst out. “I’ve been looking in another dimension for you and you’ve been twenty minutes down the street living an entire life!”

“And you’ve been tested multiple times by doctors,” Violet added. “If I recall, they found a few odd anomalies, but nothing that would dispute your existence.”

“What anomalies?” Beakley asked.

“Her normal body temperature is lower than average, but just by a few degrees. She has anemia and chronic low blood sugar — nothing that can’t be controlled with regular medications and a careful diet, which happens to be what Papi is best at. Certainly nothing that led anyone to suspect she may not be a real, living being.”

“You had the amulet,” Webby said suddenly, straightening up and looking at Violet. “Magica’s amulet. Where did you say you found it?”

“On the beach. Near the amphitheater.” Violet looked bewildered. “I thought we had worked this out.”

“We have, sorry. I was just wondering… isn’t it weird? You happened to end up with the amulet  _ and _ Lena?”

Violet shrugged. “Coincidence? I don’t subscribe to the theory of fate.”

“Magic is weird, though. Maybe Lena is attached to it—”

“If you’re going to talk about me like I’m not here, why don’t I just go?” Lena snapped, standing and storming to the door.

“Lena—!”

Violet rested a hand on Webby’s shoulder. “She won’t go far. Don’t worry.”

“I think she may be a bit overwhelmed,” Scrooge added. “Give her a moment to process.”

Webby sighed, flopping back against the couch. They were right, especially Scrooge. Webby couldn’t imagine being in Lena’s shoes right then.

True to Violet’s words, Lena paused on the front step before sliding down to sit, drawing her legs up to her chest and resting her forehead on her knees.

_ Am I real? _

She wasn’t sure how long she sat like that, staring at nothing, before someone said, “Are you okay?”

It was a familiar voice, even if Lena’s memories of it were hazy and seven months separated her from the first time she’d heard it. She looked up to see Fenton standing in front of her; he tilted his head for a moment before lighting up.

“Lena! What’re you doing here?”

Lena stared at him for a moment before laughing tiredly. “It’s a long story.”

She followed Fenton inside, dropping back into her seat without a word. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, Fenton,” Scrooge said with a small smile. “We’ll try not to keep you long.”

“It’s not a problem at all. What can I do for you?”

“Well… We need to know more about the night you found Lena.”

Fenton blinked, looking between Lena and Scrooge for a moment. “There’s not much to say. It was a few hours after Magica was defeated. M’Ma and I were searching the woods to make sure no one was hurt out there or looking for help, and I found Lena. She was a bit delirious and banged up, but after what had happened I didn’t think much of it.”

“Do you remember exactly where you found her?”

“Uh…” Fenton rubbed the back of his head for a moment. “Near the entrance to the money bin bridge. You know, that area between the beach and Killmotor Hill.”

Violet looked over at Lena, then at Webby. “Perhaps I need to revisit my notion of destiny and fate as well.”

“So you found Lena near the same place Violet found Magica’s amulet,” Scrooge murmured. “That may be more than a coincidence.” He looked at Lena, who shrank back slightly. “Have you seen the amulet?”

“Yeah, Violet had it for months,” Lena replied, a bit bitterly. “I hated it.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure. Something about the way it made me feel. It was… wrong.”

“So I’m assumin’ you never touched it.” Lena shook her head. She had vehemently refused to go anywhere near that thing the entire time it had been in the house.

“You had that amulet the entire time I knew you,” Webby said quietly.

“And when Magica came back, she took it — and you,” Scrooge continued. “It’s not much of a jump to assume it could help with your memories—”

“No.” 

Lena stood again, her expression stony, ignoring the looks of shock. “If all of this — if  _ any _ of this is true, then I don’t  _ want _ to remember. I don’t want to get mixed up with magic and evil witches and  _ whatever _ it is you people do. I watch the news — your family is insane. Why would  _ anyone _ want to be part of that? It sounds like I’m even lucky to be alive, and I’m not tempting that. So just leave the amulet in whatever hole you buried it in, and leave me out of it.”

“Lena—” Webby started to insist, reaching for Lena’s hand; she immediately stepped away.

“No, I’m not doing this! Look, I’m sorry you lost your friend, and I’m sorry you’ve wasted all this time, but I’m… I’m not going to be her. Whoever you lost, just let her stay that way. Maybe she’s happier.”

This time, she continued straight down the hill when she walked out, never looking back.

Webby’s hand was still outstretched, frozen in mid-air. After a moment she fell back onto the couch, jolting when she sat on something hard. The journal. Lena had left it behind. She flipped it open, stopping on a page somewhere passed the poem about Scrooge and Magica. She had drawn their bracelets, Webby realized, stunned. Except Webby’s bracelet was normal and Lena’s, interlinked with Webby’s, had words written in it.

_ Traitor. Selfish. Worthless. Monster _ .

Was this really how she saw herself? Webby traced a finger over the words, frowning.

_ “Was… Was I a good person?” _

Clearly she hadn’t thought so before.

* * *

It was nearly midnight before Lena finally got home. Nico and Harry were waiting.

“Where were you?”

“Walking,” Lena mumbled, toeing off her shoes. She’d walked the beach five times before going to sit under the amphitheater for three hours, then finally wandering through the woods until she felt tired enough to go home.

“We tried calling you.”

“Phone wasn’t charged.” Partially true. It had died while she had been sitting under the theater, reading about the Shadow War.

“ _ Lena _ .” Nico’s voice was sharper than usual. “We were worried about you. Why didn’t you come home?”

“I lost track of time,” Lena shot back impatiently. She just wanted to go upstairs. “What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is you have a curfew, and we were worried. We almost called the police!”

“Well, you didn’t, and I’m home. Happy ending, right?” She started for the stairs. “I’m going to bed.”

“We’re talking about this in the morning,” Harry informed her retreating back.

“Sure.”

Lena walked to her bedroom, pausing with her hand on the doorknob. “So you didn’t tell them?”

“No,” Violet said quietly from her door.

“Good. Don’t.”

“Lena—”

She walked into her room and closed the door, cutting Violet off. Safe in her own, dark space, she collapsed onto the bed, wrapping her arms around a pillow and trying to ignore the tears filling her eyes.

* * *

The next few days were tense.

Nico and Harry knew  _ something _ was wrong with Lena, but they didn’t know what. Violet wouldn’t tell them anything, or even confirm she  _ knew _ anything.

Lena’s newfound sullenness persisted. She mostly mumbled unsatisfying answers when Nico and Harry tried to ask her what was going on, then just shrugged when they said she was grounded for a week.

“Is this the plan now?” Violet asked as she followed Lena upstairs. “Act mean and spiteful and hope everyone turns on you so you don’t have to worry about them leaving you later?”

“I don’t know, Violet. You seem to know more about me and what’s best for me, so why don’t you tell me what I should do?”

She shut the door in Violet’s stunned face.

* * *

_ Tick. Tick. Tick. _

It had been a while since Lena had been  _ this _ quiet during a session. Harry and Nico had forced her to go to an extra session before her next one, and it was obvious she didn’t want to be there. Dr. Lorikeet watched her close, letting her take this at her own pace. They might spend this entire session in silence. But Lena might be ready to talk next time.

_ Tick. Tick. Tick _ .

“You can’t tell anyone anything I say, right?” Lena asked suddenly, looking up. “Doctor-patient whatever, right?

“As long as you’re not planning to hurt yourself or another person, then no, I can’t tell anyone anything you tell me in these sessions. If your fathers ask, I can explain in vague terms, but I won’t tell them specific details without your permission.”

Lena nodded a couple of times, wringing her hands together, before she started speaking in a rush. Dr. Lorikeet had a feeling she had been wanting to talk for a while.

“I found out things about myself. Or I think they’re about me. I don’t know. I don’t remember anything, obviously, I just have to depend on what everyone else tells me. But none of it makes  _ sense _ . There’s this girl, Webby, she lives with  _ Scrooge freaking McDuck _ and they  _ know me _ . Webby said I was her friend, and I was…  _ created _ by that witch who started the Shadow War —  _ Aunt Magica _ . I was  _ created _ by a  _ witch _ from her  _ shadow _ . I’m not even real! I’m just a shadow she sent here to… to… I don’t even know, but I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be dead right now!”

Dr. Lorikeet was unsurprisingly stunned as she watched Lena pace the room. “And Violet  _ knew _ ! Or she thought she knew anyways. She had theories. But she wasn’t going to tell me! She said she was trying to protect me, like that does me any freaking good when I don’t know I  _ need _ to be protected.”

She stopped to kick her chair. “How are you feeling about finding all this out?” Dr. Lorikeet asked. She wasn’t surprised when Lena gave her a look of utmost confusion. “Frustrated, I get that. But you’ve finally found out something about your past, which is something you’ve been agonizing over for months.”

“And it all sucks.” Lena dropped into her chair, burying her face in her hands. “I figured I had a bad family, but this is…”

“Beyond comprehension?” Dr. Lorikeet supplied.

“Pretty much. What am I supposed to do now? I can’t let Harry and Nico adopt me. I don’t even know if I can stay with them.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Have you been  _ listening _ ?” Lena asked in disbelief. “I’m probably dangerous! I knew this would be a disaster.”

“Is it a disaster, or are you just letting these things confirm what you already thought about yourself?”

Lena scrubbed her face, shaking her head. “I don’t  _ know _ .”

Dr. Lorikeet checked the clock. Their hour was almost up. “You’re my last appointment today. Do you want to stay a little later and try to talk this out?”

Lena looked up; there were tears in her eyes, and her responding voice was small. “Yes, please.”

* * *

Webby bounced on her feet as she rang the door bell. It wasn’t often she was the  _ visitor _ at someone else’s house. Violet opened the door, giving her a small smile.

“Hello, Webigail. Would you like to come in?”

“If you don’t mind,” Webby said. Violet stepped aside to het her in.

“Mi pequeño colibrí, who’s that at the door?” Harry asked, peeking out of the kitchen.

“It’s my friend Webigail. I told you about her.”

Harry nearly lit up. “The one who lives with Scrooge McDuck?”

“ _ Papi _ …” 

He chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you, Webigail. I’m Harry.” There was a crash, followed by a string of Spanish curses. “And that would be my my husband, Nico. Who can’t seem to remember how a pot holder works. My brownies better not be ruined,” he added over his shoulder.

“Oh, they’re fine. And so is my hand, by the way.”

Harry shook his head, turning to lead the girls back into the kitchen, when the front door opened. “Ah, Lena, perfect—”

“No,” Lena said shortly, toeing off her shoes and continue to the stairs in one fluid motion. It was rare that Harry Sabrewing ever looked truly mad about something. But he’d had enough of Lena’s new attitude.

“Espera _ solo un minuto _ , jovencita.” Lena froze on the fourth step, her hand tight around the bannister. “We need to talk.”

“Yeah, cool.” Lena whirled back to look at him. “Let’s talk about you scheduling an extra therapy session behind my back. You could have  _ asked _ first.”

“Would you have agreed?”

“I don’t know! But I’m sick of people doing things they think are  _ right _ for me without  _ asking me first _ !”

“Oye ahora, ¿cuál es el grito?” Nico stepped out of the kitchen, frowning deeply. He looked between his husband and Lena, and hesitated. “Lena, what’s going on?”

“Why don’t you ask Violet? All of you can get together and talk about what’s best for me and let me know when you’ve decided.”

“And what does  _ that _ mean?”

“Like I said, ask Violet.” Lena turned and continued upstairs. “I’ll be in my room waiting to hear what everyone wants me to do.”

“If you walk away, I’m going to tell them,” Violet cut in, staring at her sister’s back.

“Go ahead,” Lena said bitterly. “I don’t care anymore.”

They all stared at the stairs, frozen, when Lena slammed her door shut.


	7. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Harry finally learn the truth about their daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a small break from the angst for the next few chapters!

“And that’s about all we’re really able to piece together about her life,” Violet concluded. “Without Lena’s memories, we can really only guess at certain details. But these are the things we know for sure.”

Harry and Nico exchanged looks. Their expressions were torn somewhere between profoundly sad and horrified. “Mi pobre pajarito,” Harry finally murmured, looking at the floor. “What a life. I can’t even imagine…”

“So she was found after this…  _ bruja _ … tried to kill her?” Nico asked through his teeth. Harry rested a hand on his husband’s knee. While he was the one to immediately get angry, Nico let his anger simmer. It was worse, in some ways.

“We really thought she was dead,” Webby said quietly. “Or at least… not in this dimension anymore. If we’d known she was here…”

“We didn’t know anyone was looking for her.” Harry shook his head. This would have been so good to know seven months ago, when the constant anxiety and depression had been eating Lena alive. He looked at Webby. “You knew her, though? Before everything?”

Webby brightened slightly. “Yeah. I thought she was so cool — and she was! But looking back… I think she was lonely. I was so upset when I thought it had all been an act, but she saved my life and stood up to Magica…” Tears filled Webby’s eyes. She quickly wiped them away. Harry watched her for a moment, then sighed, standing.

“What’re you doing?”

“Cutting into the brownies. I think we all need a little chocolate.”

Nico chuckled. Baked goods were Harry’s solution to everything. “I’m glad she has a good family,” Webby said quietly, smiling. “She deserves it. She never wanted to show it, but I knew she had a soft side.”

“She still doesn’t want to show it.” Nico rolled his eyes, chuckling. “We have a feral cat colony in the neighborhood. Everyone steps in and feeds them, makes sure they have little warm shelters in the winter, and that they’re generally cared for. They mostly stay away from us… but they love Lena. I’ve caught her out back in the middle of the night with two or three cats, petting them and talking to them, and they’d all be cuddled up with her like she was an old friend.”

“If we’re not careful, we’re going to end up with a pet,” Harry added, setting the plate of brownies down on the table. “There’s a pair od siblings who’ve taken a particular liking to her, and haven’t been around long to be completely feral.”

“Oh dios mio,” Nico groaned, covering his eyes. They all knew if Lena asked, she’d be allowed to bring the kittens inside and make them her own.

“So you… still want to adopt her?” Violet asked, looking between her fathers.

“Of course we do! What kind of question is that, colibrí?”

“She thought you wouldn’t, if you knew the truth.”

“Is that why she…” Harry’s voice drifted off, and he looked at Nico. They had taken in dozens of foster children in their time together. How had they not recognized Lena blatantly and purposely pushing them away? “Oh, Lena…”

“I think it’s time for us to talk now that we’re all on the same page,” Nico said.

“Should I go?” Webby asked, half-standing.

“No, no. I think it might be good for you to be here, actually. Of course… we have to get her out of her room first.”

“Oh, leave that to me,” Harry said, grabbing a brownie and heading for the stairs. He was shameless. He knocked on Lena’s door, calling, “I made sea-salted caramel brownies.”

There was a long pause, then the door opened. “You play dirty.” She had clearly been crying.

“I use my skills to my advantage,” Harry corrected, holding an arm out. Lena hesitated before stepping forward, hugging Harry tight. She got the brownie from him before following him downstairs.

Webby was nibbling on a brownie — they were  _ really _ good — and froze when she saw Lena. The teen met her gaze for a second before looking away.

“I think we need to talk,” Harry told Lena gently. “Violet and Webby told us what they know.”

Lena’s shoulders hunched, and she looked away. “So what, you’re going to make a show of throwing me out?”

“Ah mi terco pajarito.” Harry sighed, directing Lena to the seat he had left open. “We are not throwing you out. How could you think that?”

“We may not understand all of it,” Nico added. “But there are some things parents just aren’t meant to understand about their children.”

“Just ask Nico about his mother,” Harry grumbled. Nico sighed.

“That is a different thing entirely.” He rested a hand on Lena’s shoulder. “The point is, it doesn’t matter to us who you were or what you did. You’re here now, and you’re our daughter. We love you.”

Tears filled Lena’s eyes, and she ducked her head. Nico and Harry took that as their cue to crush her between them in a hug. She giggled, wiping her eyes.

Webby looked at Violet, giving her a small smile, and quietly slid out of her chair. This was a family moment. She was an intruder.

And she was happy for Lena, she really, really was. Lena deserved to be happy. Lena deserved  _ everything _ .

No matter how much it hurt Webby to let her go.

She was halfway down the street when she heard the voice calling after her.

“Hey, Webby! Wait up!”

She turned, surprised, to see Lena jogging toward her. “Hey,” she said dumbly. Lena paused to catch her breath for a moment before straightening up.

“I just… wanted to say I’m sorry about what I said the other day.”

“Oh.” It took a moment for that to register. “Oh! No, don’t be, I mean… you were right. You’re not…”  _ My Lena _ , “the friend I lost. You have this whole life, and you’re happy, and it’s great.” Webby tried to smile like she wasn’t dying inside. “You deserve to be happy.”

“Yeah, but, I mean…” Lena rubbed the back of her head uncertainly. “That doesn’t mean we can’t, ya know, start over? Be friends? I get it if you don’t want to, I know you want the person you knew…”

Her voice drifted off as a slow grin spread across Webby’s beak. “ _ Yes _ !” she squealed, throwing herself at Lena and hugging her tight.

“Wow, you… really like hugs, doncha Pink?”

The nickname sent a shock of excitement through Webby. She hugged Lena tighter. “Yeah. I really do.”

* * *

Webby left the journal with Lena, saying it was hers and she deserved it. But it didn’t  _ feel _ like hers. Going through it, reading the poems and seeing the drawings, felt like a look into another person’s life. She couldn’t even draw.

...Could she?

She grabbed her notebook and pencil and began to scribble mindlessly. She hadn’t drawn before. She didn’t know what she was doing. But her hand apparently did — it drew perfectly round lines, curved edges, and it only took Lena a minute to realize she was drawing… Webby.

Her cheeks burned as she quickly threw the notebook off to the side. The hyper little duck was certainly… something else. And maybe Lena was a little enamored by her. But that was ridiculous. She barely knew Webby. Even if the Lena who had written in this journal had talked about her and drawn pictures toward the end…

That wasn’t her. Really.

Violet poked her head in. “Dinner’s ready.”

“Coming.” Lena set the journal aside, rubbing her temples, and she stood.

And then there was pain.

Lena’s vision momentarily whited out, an odd buzzing filling her ears. She was on her knees, both hands pressed against her chest, trying desperately to ease some of the pain.

“Lena?” She barely heard Violet calling her name, or felt the hands on her shoulders. It was hard to feel anything through the ache that seemed to be eating through her. She heard Violet calling for Nico and Harry as she collapsed to the floor, curling tight into the fetal position. It hurt, it hurt, it  _ hurt _ , why did it hurt so much? It hadn’t hurt this much before… 

“...hear me, Lena?” Noise filtered back slowly. Her head was in Nico’s lap as he tried to get her attention. She vaguely heard Harry in the background, panicking to someone. There was a hand on her back. Her chest still hurt.

“I think she’s starting to breathe again.”

“Lena?”

“It hurts,” she whimpered, curling closer to Nico. His hand moved from her back to her hair. The pain was fading slowly, like aftershocks.

“The dispatcher says we should take her to the hospital,” Harry informed Nico, and Lena saw now that he was on the phone. Great.

“Please don’t,” she begged. “It’s not like they can do anything.”

Harry and Nico exchanged uncertain looks. She was right, and they knew it. But it went against every instinct they had to let a child suffer without even trying to do anything.

They respected her wishes, though, thanking the dispatcher and hanging up. Nico gently scooped her into his arms and placed her in bed. Violet was still there, watching everything silently.

“Are you okay?” Nico asked seriously.

“It still hurts.” There was no point in hiding it. “Not as bad, though. I think it’s going away.”

“That wasn’t normal,” Harry said seriously. “None of your attacks have ever been that bad.”

“I know.” She fell back on her pillows, taking a few deep breaths. “I’m sure it’s just… I dunno, some weird stupid magical thing.”

Harry brushed her hair back, giving her a small smile. “At least it’s an explanation.”

“Yeah. Great.”

She ended up confined to bed for the rest of the night. Violet brought in her laptop so they could watch movies. They laid in Lena’s bed for a while, watching some stupid comedy romance that neither of them were interested in, but their own movie tastes — horror, science and fantasy, documentaries, and anything magic-related — didn’t seem entirely appropriate right then. So Violet got some movies from their fathers, and they settled in for a few hours of romantic comedies, comedies, and dramatic love stories.

“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you?” Violet asked about an hour into the second movie, after nearly four hours in silence. She didn’t even bother pausing the movie. Lena was quiet for a moment, staring at the screen.

“Yeah,” she finally said. “I trusted you, Violet.”

“I know.” Violet’s eyes fell to her laptop keyboard. “Would it have been any better if I had told you the truth?”

“...I don’t know.” Lena closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Maybe I wouldn’t feel betrayed if you had just told me the truth. Even if I hated it. How do I know you’re not hiding anything  _ now _ ?”

“You don’t,” Violet admitted. “I’m not, but all you have is my word. And I understand if that’s not worth much anymore.”

“I trusted you,” was all Lena could mutter again. Violet looked at her out of the corner of her eye. She really did feel terrible. Her intentions had been good, but her thought process hadn’t been entirely sound. Emotions tended to cloud that kind of thing.

“Do you at least believe I was trying to protect you?”

“Yeah.” The word wasn’t too hesitant. It comforted Violet a bit. “Even if you were kind of stupid about it.”

“I can accept that.” Lena wasn’t entirely  _ wrong _ , after all. The teen watched her for a moment before giving her a small smile.

“No more secrets. Please?”

“I can do that. Keeping secrets is quite unpleasant anyway.”

“It really doesn’t fit your ‘tell it like it is’ aesthetic.” Lena looked to do the door to make sure they didn’t have an audience, then back at Violet. “You sure you want some freaky shadow magic thing for a sister?”

“It could be far worse.” Violet shrugged. “When I was eight, we temporarily housed a six year old with a fascination for fire.”

“...Yikes.”

“Papá and Papi tried, but they had to turn him back over to his social worker after he lit my room on my fire. I don’t think he was malicious. Just curious.”

“Well, I promise to never set your room on fire.”

“I appreciate it.”


	8. Sleepover!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Webby will have a normal sleepover. Even if she has to kill someone to do it.

“I got it!” Della called, hurrying to the door as the bell echoed through the halls. She had grown up with Duckworth, but he had died some time before the whole moon fiasco, and she had gotten used to things like answering doors on her own. And it just felt weird to let Agent Twenty-Two or Duckworth’s ghost do it (he really needed to retire. Or take a vacation).

“ _ Wait _ !” Webby half-screamed, bolting down the stairs and grabbing Della, looking her over.

“Wha — Webby, what’re you—”

“She’s checking to make sure you’re normal,” Huey explained, walking by with an armful of potato chips and soda.

“Should I be insulted?”

Webby finally let her go, and Della went to open the door, finding two girls on the doorstep — Lena, with her arm resting on Violet’s head.

“Will you stop using me as your arm rest now?”   


“But it’s fun.”

Violet shrugged Lena’s arm off, rolling her eyes. “Hello, Ms. Duck.”

“Heya. Call me Della, please. Ms. Duck makes me feel old.”

“At least you’re not Uncle Scrooge’s mom and dad,” Webby said, bouncing passed Della and beaming at the girls. “Hey! Oooooooh, you brought cake!”

“Yeah, our father, you know — I’m sorry, did you just say Mr. McDuck’s parents are still alive?”

“Druid magic, long story. Come on!” Webby grabbed Lena’s hand; the teen yelped as she was dragged inside, Violet hurrying after them.

“She’s excited,” Della said, raising an eyebrow.

“Sleepovers are kind of a Thing for her.”

Webby finally released Lena when they entered the library, leaving her baffled as she tried to straighten her sweatshirt and the sunglasses that had been set askew on her head.

“There are games and soda and candy and—”

“Bear traps,” Lena said dryly, noting the box of traps shoved in a corner. Webby stopped, then giggled.

“Oh, right. Oops. We’ll just ignore those. Where are Dewey and Louie?”

“Trying to find the dart guns,” Huey said, off-loading the sleepover snacks next to the board games. “Between our old ones and the ones we got for Christmas, we’ve got enough for everyone.”

Lena had dropped her bag and was wandering the room, looking over the decor. She stopped in front of a corkboard, not comprehending what she was looking at until she saw a picture of herself, with the words  _ Where is Lena? _ scrawled next to it.

“Sorry!”

Webby practically squeaked as she hurried over to flip the board, turning it back to the McDuck research side. “I should’ve cleared that, I wasn’t… I’m sorry.”

“Um, it’s okay.” Lena rubbed the back of her head, trying to smile. “I mean, it’s a little weird, but it’s… kind of cool, I guess? I mean, after spending this long thinking no one cared about me and all.”

Webby’s tentative smile was interrupted by the doors bursting open and two shouts of, “Hands in the air!” Webby immediately turned, closed the distance between herself and the brothers, and disarmed them expertly.

“You were saying?” she asked with a wicked grin, both dart guns pointed at Dewey and Louie.

“We regret everything!” they yelled, running out, Webby running after them. Lena watched them go, laughing, then turned back to the board. It was probably a little egotistical to turn it back to the side about her, but she couldn’t help herself. Webby had truly done her research. She found the picture of herself again, and her eyes drifted to another photo, of a woman with green feathers and black hair with a purple streak… 

“ _ Feed my power, Dark Eclipse, free my form from the abyss. Dormant magic now unchain, the Shadow Queen be whole again! _ ”

“Lena?”

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, suddenly feeling jittery and shaky, a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. It almost felt like her blood sugar was low, but that was nearly impossible. Harry fed her every time she left the house, as if there wouldn’t be food wherever she was going… 

Huey was standing next to her, looking at the board, then at Lena, frowning faintly. She swallowed hard, finding her voice to say, “Is… is that…?”

The red-clad boy nodded slowly. “Magica. We haven’t seen her in months, but she doesn’t have powers or anything anymore. She can’t hurt you.”

Every single nerve in Lena’s body was screaming otherwise. Violet walked over to join them, staring at the picture.

_ We’re family. I’m always with you. _

The hiss seemed to echo in Lena’s head; Violet swore Lena went paler. “Maybe you should eat something,” she said uncertainly.

“Yeah, come on.” Huey flipped the board back to Scrooge. His brothers ran back in, still chased by Webby, and they were all distracted by diving for their own guns and throwing themselves into the battle.

Violet, as it turned out, was extremely persistent, fast, and a good shot. The triplets called the game off after two hours, when they had all been hit by Violet and Webby three times, and Lena twice.

“You guys weren’t even going after each other,” Louie complained as he cracked open a can of Pep and took a deep sip.

“I thought we were just ganging up on the weak,” Lena said with a wicked grin, earning herself three glares. “Anyone want cake? Harry spent hours on this thing for some reason…”

His work was evident. The buttercream frosting, decorated with carefully cats and butterflies and books, was delicious, and the chocolate cake was moist and full of flavor.

“Papi is a professional baker,” Violet said, a hint of pride in her voice. “He has his own business and everything. He’s catered for Rockerduck parties before.”

“Oh god, don’t let—”

“Did someone say Rockerduck?!” A thickly accented voice demanded; Scrooge appeared in the door, as if summoned by the name. The boys sighed.

“My apologies Mr. McDuck,” Violet said quickly. “I was just talking about my father’s business. He owns a fairly popular bakery and has catered for several well-known members of the city.”

“Is that so?” Scrooge frowned; everyone could see the wheels turning in his head. “Do you have a business card?”

“Oh my god.” Lena covered her face, shaking her head. If  _ Scrooge McDuck  _ called Harry about catering a party… 

Violet scribbled down the details for Scrooge; the old man muttered to himself as he walked away. “Harry is going to lose his  _ mind _ .”

“He can consider this his birthday present from us,” Violet said simply, taking another bite of cake.

* * *

Webby stirred, rolling onto her back to look blearily at the glowy stars stuck to the ceiling over her head. She wasn’t quite sure what instinct had woken her — until she looked at Lena’s empty sleeping bag.

“Lena?”

She sat up immediately, looking around. Moonlight lit up the room, illuminating a shadowy figure over by the bulletin board. Webby pushed herself up, yawning.

“Hey. You okay?”

“Yeah.” Lena didn’t look away from the board. Webby made her way over, pausing when she saw that Lena had flipped the board back to the Where’s Lena side and was staring intently at Magica’s photo.

“Does she… look familiar at all?”

“A little?” Lena pressed her hands to her temples. “I don’t know. It hurts to think about. But she…” Lena shook her head. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m connected to her. Which I guess makes sense. I mean… I  _ am _ her shadow, huh?”

“Yeah, but… you’re also  _ you _ ,” Webby said quietly, resting a hand on Lena’s arm. “You turned on Magica in the end and saved us. You did something that went completely against her. You were a hero.”

“Hmph.” Lena made an unintelligible noise, raising her head to look at the board again. “Pretty pathetic hero.”

She yelped, stumbling, as Webby tackled her from the side, holding her tight. “Not true.” Webby’s voice was muffled by her face being buried in Lena’s shoulder. “You’re the  _ best _ hero.”

Tears filled Lena’s eyes, and her shoulders hunched. “Doesn’t it bother you?” she asked quietly. “Having me around even if I’m not really…  _ me _ ?”

“You’re more than your memories,” Webby argued. “There’s still so much  _ you _ in there. You used to call me Pink all the time. You called Granny Tea Time and Colonel Crumpet and a bunch of other British things to annoy her. You liked making fun of the boys and ganging up on them. You’re still  _ you _ . Just with a few differences. But it’s okay. I’d rather have you here then trapped in the Shadow Realm or… something worse.”

Lena nodded slowly, resting her head on top of Webby’s. “I’m sorry you wasted so much time looking for me.”

“I’m not,” Webby said fiercely. “I would’ve spent years looking for you if I had to. I’m just happy you’re here now.”

Lena smiled weakly. “I know I already said this, but it really is mind-blowing that you’ve been looking for me all this time.”

Webby grinned, hugging her tighter. “If you ever forget anything again, just try to remember one thing — I’ll  _ never _ stop looking for you.”

“That’s… oddly reassuring.” Lena finally shifted to return the hug, dimly noting how perfectly Webby seemed to fit in her arms.

Violet rolled onto her stomach, blinking heavily, raising her head to look at Webby and Lena, still outlined in moonlight.  _ Friends _ , she scoffed silently, nestling back into her pillow. They were just friends. Right.

* * *

It was Webby’s first successful sleepover. No magic, no shenanigans, no drama. She and Lena had eventually fallen asleep in front the of the board, talking sleepily about the past — well, Webby talked while Lena listened to her fantastical stories about the Terra-Firmians and their amazing adventure to find them.

“Fashion statement?” Della asked, amused, as she walked into the dining room and saw Lena fiddling with the sunglasses covering her eyes.

“Sun sensitivity,” Violet piped up, taking a bite of her waffles. “Your dining room is  _ very _ bright.”

“Bright start to a bright day?” Lena raised her sunglasses to give Della a look. “Hoo boy, the last person who looked at me like that was Donald when we were thirteen.”

Webby giggled, happily munching on a piece of bacon. This was probably the best outcome she could ever hope for. Lena was alive, if not  _ fully _ herself, and she even had a second chance at life. A chance to be happy without Magica weighing her down. Without drowning in her own secrets. She deserved it. She deserved  _ everything _ .

And if Webby could be part of that new life? Then it was even better.

“Lena?”

The girl looked up from her plate, raising her glasses again to meet Scrooge’s gaze. He was standing in the dining room door, looking rather serious. “Do ye have a moment, lass?”

Lena looked at Webby, who shrugged and mouthed  _ I dunno _ . “Uh, sure.” She stood, settling her sunglasses on top of her head and moving to follow Scrooge, completely aware of every single set of eyes watching her retreating back.

They walked in silence, only going a little ways down the hall before Scrooge led her into his office, closing the door behind them. “Don’t look like you’re walking to your own execution,” he joked, smiling to try and put her at ease. “I just want to discuss something that happened before the Shadow War.”

“I don’t—”

“I know you don’t remember. It’s something I’d like you to know.” He settled into his seat, leaning on the desk. Lena hesitated before sitting across from him. “Before everything… went wrong, I promised you a place in this family if you helped me save everyone. You more than fulfilled your end of the bargain. Now, I know you have two fathers who are in the process of adopting you, and I’ve no desire to take you away from that. You deserve a quiet life, and that’s certainly not something you’ll ever get here.” He chuckled. “Honestly, last night was a rare occurrence. At any rate, you kept up your end of the bargain, as I said. And I want to keep mine. If there’s anything you need, just ask.”

Lena’s mouth was hanging open, staring at the older duck in disbelief.  _ Anything _ ? “Um… an autograph for my dad?” she asked weakly. Scrooge blinked, and laughed.

“Not something I usually do, but I suppose I can make an exception.”

_ Favorite daughter here I come _ . “Why would you… I mean, I don’t remember any of this, or what I did. Why bring up the promise at all?”

“Well, for one thing, I’m a man of my word.” He puffed out his chest proudly for a moment before his tone dropped into something softer. “And you deserve it. I know ye haven’t had it easy, lass. If I can do anything at all to make it easier now, then just say the word.”

Lena nodded slowly, still stunned. “I… yeah. Sure. That’s really, really… thank you.”

She felt like an idiot. But what was she supposed to say to such an offer? “I’m the one who should be thanking you,” Scrooge said. “I know you don’t remember, but you saved lives that day. Offering a bit of money to help you now is the least I can do.”

It felt like too much. Lena wasn’t sure how to process it. “Thank you,” she said again, stupidly.

“Think nothing of it.” Scrooge found a piece of paper in his desk. “Now, what’s your father’s name?”


	9. The New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Webby gets a look at Lena's home life. It's.... normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep forgetting to link this: https://lenasmagic.tumblr.com/post/190836805222/the-sabredads-as-drawn-as-by-jen-iii-from-my
> 
> jen-iii on tumblr drew Harry and Nico! And they are wonderful <3

_ Lena Sabrewing. _

_ Lena Sabrewing. _

_ Lena Sabrewing _ .

She wrote the name over and over, like she was practicing. She wrote it so many times that her own handwriting started to look foreign to her. She’d been using the last name for months, since she’d started school, but now that it was becoming  _ official _ , it felt different.

Her eyes drifted to the journal on the edge of her desk, and after a moment she slowly started scrawling something else.

_ Lena de Spell _ .

That… didn’t feel right either. Lena sighed, shoving her notebook away and resting her head in her arms. She tapped her pen against the desk, staring at the old journal.  _ Lena. Lena. Lena. She still won’t use my name. _ Maybe it didn’t feel right because it  _ wasn’t _ right. Because she didn’t have a name.

“Don’t think about it,” she scolded herself, thudding her head against the desk. “Don’t. Think. About. It.”

“I hope you’re talking about something aside from the concussion you’re going to give yourself,” Nico said from the door, highly amused. Lena looked up at him, her expression the exact opposite of his tone.

“Hilarious.”

“Well, I like to think so.” He made his way into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just…” She shook her head, tilting it slightly to look at Nico out of the corner of her eye. “Are you  _ sure _ you want to adopt me?”

That got her a frown. “Of course, Lena. I thought we talked about this?”

“We did. But I…” She waved her arms, huffing and sighing impatiently. “I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right.  _ I  _ don’t feel right. It’s like I’m missing something. Or I’m broken. Do you seriously want a broken kid?”

“Mi niña.” Nico sighed, holding an arm out. Lena hesitated before moving to sit on the bed with him and letting him wrap her in a tight hug. “You are not broken. You are  _ hurt _ , which is very different, and we could never love you any less for it.”

Lena smiled despite herself, leaning into the hug. She didn’t remember the past or  _ Aunt Magica _ . And she didn’t want to. She had a great family  _ now _ . The past could stay where it was. She had a good life.

* * *

Webby rocked anxiously back and forth, looking around Lena’s room. It was definitely an upgrade from the room under the theater.

“I like your room,” she blurted out without thinking, then mentally smacked herself. Why couldn’t she ever think of the right words to say?

“I’m pretty fond of it.” Lena dropped her school bag next to the door (it was so  _ weird _ to think about her going to school), and beckoned Webby forward. “Come on, you can gawk and sit.”

Oops. Webby blushed, but smiled slightly. “I just think it’s cool. You have a lot of headphones.”

“Music therapy. Kind of.” Lena flopped onto the bed, falling back, flipping through her phone. “Dr. Lorikeet recommended it since I apparently suck at expressing myself.”

“Did she actually say that?”

“I might be paraphrasing. The point is, music is a way of communicating. And it’s nice when I just want to ignore people.”

Webby giggled, lying down on her stomach. Lena held out her phone to show Webby the playlists she had made. “Cooooool.” Webby took the phone to flip through the playlists real quick. Somehow, she wasn’t surprised Lena had a varying and diverse taste in music.

“So I used to live under that theater stage, right?”

Lena was staring at the ceiling, arms over her head, expression distant. “Yeah,” Webby said slowly. “But you don’t anymore.”

“Did you know?”

“No.” Webby paused. “Thinking back… I didn’t know that much about you. I guess you did that on purpose. You were just nice and cool and like, the only person I’d ever met who didn’t think I was weird.” 

Which wasn’t saying much considering how few people she’d met. “What do you mean?” Lena asked, looking at her. Webby sat up, crossing her legs under herself.

“I’m… not normal. I know I’m not. And I don’t  _ care _ , I’m happy about who I am, but the boys used to make fun of me for it. Like when we went into the subway to look for Terra-Firmians—”

“The rock things?”

“Yeah, those ones. Anyways, Huey was kind of being stubborn because he likes science and facts and he thought I made the Terra-Firmians up… he was being kind of a jerk about it. I don’t think he meant to be, though. But you never thought anything I did was weird. You never made fun of me for it. You thought all my weird stuff was cool, even if you didn’t understand it. You sat through an entire presentation of Scrooge McDuck’s early life once.”

“You  _ really _ need to meet Harry.” Webby giggled. “And for what it’s worth? I think you’re pretty cool now, too.”

Webby lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah, I mean…” Lena tucked her arms under her head, clearly thinking hard. “You’re nice, and you’re funny, and going on adventures in subways sounds like fun.”

“It was! We snuck into Scrooge’s other bin once, too. That was really dangerous, actually, but I got to fight a sword horse and you—”

_ “You're not my friend! _

_ You're a coward!  _

_ A traitor!”  _

Lena shot up, gasping sharply, one hand pressing to her suddenly aching chest. “Lena?” Webby grabbed her shoulder, holding her steady. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Lena swallowed a couple breaths of air — something she definitely wasn’t supposed to do when she was trying to calm herself down and she knew it. “It’s nothing. This happens sometimes.”

“Is it something I said?”

“N-No. Well.” Lena frowned, then sighed. “Maybe. I heard a voice. It was really high-pitched and creepy, but I think it was supposed to be you.”

“What was I saying?”

“You were… calling me a coward. And a traitor.”

“ _ What _ ?” Webby’s mouth dropped open. The shock in her expression was something no one was capable of faking. “I would never say anything like that. I wasn’t even mad when I found out you were working with Magica.”

“You weren’t?”

Lena’s voice was small; it caught Webby off guard. “No,” she said quietly. “I felt hurt and I thought you were just using me but then you came back and… you  _ saved _ me. I felt bad for doubting you. But I was never mad.” Lena lifted her head to look at Webby, eyes wide and innocent in a way Webby had never seen.

“I never deserved you, did I?” 

Webby practically threw herself at Lena, hugging her tight. “You deserve  _ everything _ .”

Lena sagged into Webby, resting against her and smiling faintly. For a moment, she felt like she  _ had _ everything.

The front door opened, ending the moment. “Anybody home?” Harry called.

“Just me.” Lena gave Webby a quick smile, and they stood, heading for the stairs. “Well, me and Webby.”

“Web — oh!” Harry beamed. “Hello there!”

“Hiya!” Webby bounced down the stairs two at a time. “I’m Webby. I know we’ve met, but it wasn’t that great last time, so…”

“¡Tan cortés!” Harry hung up his coat and clapped his hands, delighted. “You and Violet could stand to learn a thing or two, Lena.”

“I’m perfectly polite,” Lena huffed, giving her foster father a fake glare. “Thank you very much.”

Webby giggled, looking up at Harry. “You’re the Scrooge fan, right?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m a  _ fan _ …”

Lena coughed to hide a snort. He’d cried for an hour after getting Scrooge’s autograph. Nico had eventually left him on the couch. 

“So you’re not really that into it?” Webby asked innocently. “That’s too bad, I brought over my laptop with a full presentation on Scrooge’s early life…”

“Oh my  _ god _ .” Lena groaned, slumping off to the kitchen to get a snack. “Should I just call for take-out?”

Harry looked starstruck, and clearly barely heard a word Lena said. “Sure, sure, that’d be great.”

Nico and Violet got home around the same time to find Webby and Harry on the couch, crowded around Webby’s laptop, going through Scrooge’s time in the gold rush; Lena was asleep at the other end of the couch.

“Dios mío.” Nico slapped a hand to his forehead while Violet sighed. “Who thought this was a good idea?”

“Wait, are you talking about the gold rush? How old  _ is _ he?”

“Undetermined,” Webby said breezily. Nico shook his head and went into the kitchen, where a wealth of Chinese takeout was waiting for them.

“Harry, did you give Lena your credit card for takeout?”

“She said she wouldn’t spend that much.”

“Because Lena is entirely reliable and not at all dishonest when it comes to ordering take-out,” Violet commented idly, walking over to look at the laptop. “Where do you get all this information? And the pictures?”

“I’ve had a  _ lot _ of free time. So that’s the end of the gold rush, next is—”

“This might be a good place to stop,” Violet said quickly. She’d stay here all night talking to Harry otherwise.

“You’re welcome to stay for dinner, though,” Harry added.

“Please stay for dinner,” Nico called from the kitchen. Bags were rustling as he dug through them. “Do you like edamame?”

“Hey, that’s mine!” Lena replied without opening her eyes.

“You never finish it, and no one else in the house likes it.”

Violet threw a pillow at Lena, who grumbled, grabbing it to glare at her. “Did you get enough sesame chicken, at least?”

“None is the normal amount.”

It was so interesting, Webby thought, watching Lena drag herself off the couch to save her edamame. She was such a  _ different _ person, but still inherently  _ Lena _ . Maybe this was who she would have been if she’d had a normal childhood. Who she  _ could _ have been.

And Webby still absolutely and completely loved her.

_ Oh no _ . Violet raised an eyebrow, watching Webby. The other duckling practically had hearts in her eyes as she watched Lena walk into the kitchen. That was  _ pining _ . She had seen it far too many times when Harry picked the movies for family movie night.

Best friends. Sure.

* * *

“Webby?”

The girl was half asleep, stuffed full of Chinese food. After one quick call to Beakley, she was handed a pair of Violet’s pajamas and a sleeping bag, then settled down in Lena’s room for the night.

“Hmph?”

It was so  _ dark _ in Lena’s room. She had explained that the sun hurt her eyes, and blackout curtains were nice, especially first thing in the morning. Webby understood, but it was still disorienting.

“Am I real?”

Webby raised her head, blinking heavily. “Huh?”

“If I’m created from someone else’s shadow… am I a real person? Am I ever going to age or look older or…?”

Webby rubbed her eyes, pushing herself up to sit on the edge of Lena’s bed. “I don’t know,” she admitted sleepily. “I mean, I don’t know if you’re ever going to age or grow up. There’s not… really anyone else like you. But you  _ are _ real. You have a real life here, with a family that really loves you. You have real feelings, and real dreams, and real fears.” She reached out, gently curling her hand around Lena’s. “I can feel you. I can hold you. I can see you. I spent six months trying to find a way to bring you back, and you were here all along. You were here, being  _ real _ . You’re just a little different. That doesn’t matter to your dads or Violet, though. And it doesn’t matter to me.”

She couldn’t see Lena, but she was pretty sure the teen was smiling. “You’re a hugger, right Pink?”

That was all Webby needed to fling herself forward, hugging Lena tight. “Definitely.”

Lena held Webby close, sighing contently. “Okay.”

It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t the answer she wanted. But it was okay. She’d just have to figure it out as she went. She wasn’t alone, at least. She had Harry and Nico. And Violet.

And, hopefully, Webby.


	10. Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena starts seeing things. She thinks. She hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all get one more chapter of not total angst after this. Enjoy it....

“So, how’ve you been?”

Dr. Lorikeet couldn’t have started off with a vaguer question if she tried. Lena fiddled with the fidget cube, pressing a few buttons absentmindedly, staring out the window.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Everything still feels weird.”

“Have you been hanging out with Webby?”

Lena rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Yeah. I think Harry and Nico want to adopt _her_ now, too. No one should leave children alone with them, they’ll have adoption papers drawn up by the end of the day.”

“Speaking of, how’s that process going?”

“Slow.” Lena sighed. “Having no prior existence makes things kind of hard. The courts want to make really, really, _really_ sure I don’t have any family before they let some random dudes adopt me. And the truth is…”

“Complicated,” Dr. Lorikeet supplied for her. “Are you worried?”

“Not really. They’re not going to find anything. The worst that happens is they can’t adopt me and I just live in their house until they kick me out. That’s pretty much what I’d do if they adopted me, so.” Lena shrugged. “I don’t know. Does it matter?”

“Are you happy either way?”

Lena tilted her head for a moment. “Yeah. I am. It’s weird and I’m still kind of mad at Violet for hiding it and confused about the entire thing and apparently I never told anyone _anything_ because the only information I can get is out of that journal, and most of _that_ is depressing. But it could be worse. I could _still_ be in that situation. Or with a worse family. I got lucky.”

Dr. Lorikeet smiled gently. “That’s a much more optimistic attitude.”

It was, Lena supposed. “The more I learn, the more I think I’m really better off. I still have so many questions, but only one person can answer them, and I… don’t really want to see her.”

“Magica.” It wasn’t really a guess. Lena looked out the window for a moment before looking back at Dr. Lorikeet.

“Were you around for all that? For the Shadow War?”

“I was in town, yes. Nowhere near anything that was happening, though.”

“Did everyone’s shadows really come to life?”

“They did. This is an odd town sometimes.”

“I’ve noticed,” Lena said dryly. “Good to know I’m not the weirdest thing in it.”

A distant bang echoed from outside, and they both looked at the window for a moment. “Far from it,” Dr. Lorikeet agreed.

There was a chill in the air as Lena stepped outside — the first signs of winter beginning to encroach on Duckburg. She slipped her phone out of her pocket to find a text from Webby — something about Gizmoduck stopping some thieves downtown — and shrugged, trying to find some good music for walking home.

She wasn’t quite sure what made her look — instinct, the glimpse of something in her peripheral vision, who knew — but she looked to her left just in time to see the swish of a shadow disappearing into an alley. A shudder ran up her spine.

 _Don’t be that person who looks, don’t be that person who looks_ , she chastised herself even as she moved closer to the alley, trying to write off her trembling hands as just being cold. She peeked around the corner…

And the alley was empty.

The tension drained out so rapidly that she slumped against a wall for a minute, taking a few deep breaths. _Stop scaring yourself. Jesus._

She walked away with that reprimand in mind, shoving her earbuds in and putting on the first playlist she found. She was making herself paranoid. She was crazy.

She didn’t look back the entire walk home.

* * *

“Lena?”

The teen looked up from her homework, surprised to see Violet in her door. “Yeah?”

“Do you have a moment?”

“Sure. I hate Physics anyways.” She turned her chair to face the bed as Violet sat down. “What’s up?”

Violet’s eyes were shifting left and right slightly, her hands folded in front of her. Was she _anxious_? “Do… Do you still want Papá and Papi to adopt you?”

“What?” The question was completely out of nowhere. “Of course I do. Why?”

“I know you’re still mad at me for not telling you the truth.” Even if Lena had wanted to, she couldn’t deny it. Violet had a way of talking that made it almost impossible to argue with her. “But… please don’t punish Papi and Papá for it. They really love you.”

“I love them too,” Lena said quietly, sighing. “I love _you_ , Violet. Yeah, I’m still mad, I’m not gonna lie about it. But that’s just a sibling thing, isn’t it? I’m pretty sure the color-coded ones hate each other.”

Violet bit her tongue, trying not to laugh. “I _know_ you know their names.”

“Yeah, but seeing how many ways I can make fun of them is a unique challenge.” Lena shrugged. “Look… Vi, I’m not going to just walk out every time we get mad at each other. We’ve still got like, five more years of living here, at least. I’ll learn to get over it.”

“What if you remember?” Lena didn’t know how to answer that. “If you remembered everything about yourself… would you still stay?”

“I… I think so? I don’t know. It’s probably never going to happen anyways, so what does it matter?”

Violet shook her head. “If there’s one thing I learned from the Shadow War and from being friends with Webigail, almost nothing is impossible. What were the odds that Sun would just _happen_ to call Papi and I would just happen to be the one to find the amulet? I’ll concede that I was more likely to find the amulet considering my proximity to the battle, but Sun has at least a dozen emergency foster parents on call, _and_ she hasn’t asked for a favor in over four years. What are the odds that Webigail would just happen to go to the library to research the Shadow Realm at the exact time and on the exact day that I was also there and need the exact same book?”

“So what, you think it’s like, fate or destiny or something?”

“I’m not sure. But things are different now. There are some subjects that I can’t one-hundred percent dismiss like I would have before the Shadow War. Magic exists. A witch tried to take over the world. You’re a being made of shadow, doing Physics homework. There are too many coincidences.” Violet paused, tapping her thumbs together for a moment. “I… think I do believe that there is some kind of fate drawing all of this together. It drew Webby to me, and allowed me to bring you back to her.”

“ _Back_ to her?” Lena scoffed. “She doesn’t _own_ me, Vi.”

“No, but — are you really that oblivious?” Violet asked. “Even I can tell you have feelings for her. And she _certainly_ does for you.”

“Wha — huh?” Lena choked on air, shaking her head a few times. “What? No way. You’re imagining things.”

“Of course I am.” Violet rolled her eyes. “Regardless, I believe all of this happened for a reason, and I believe you and Webby are in the middle of it somehow.”

“That — That doesn’t mean I — we—”

Lena couldn’t find words. That was rare. “S-So what?” she finally stuttered. “I mean, what do you think is going to happen next?”

“How should I know? I can’t see the future, that’s ludicrous.”

“Oh sure, _that’s_ where you draw the line.” Lena shook her head. “I don’t know what would happen if I got my memories back. I don’t know what kind of person I am. Do you think you can just… be patient with me?”

“I think that’s possible,” Violet said with a small smile. “I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me, eventually.”

“I’m sure I will. Or I’ll do something to piss you off and we’ll be even.”

“I would certainly like to see you try.”

“Is that a challenge?”

The girls laughed despite themselves. It wasn’t perfect — the situation wasn’t fixed. But it would get there.

They had plenty of time.

* * *

Lena wasn’t quite sure what woke her. One minute she was asleep, the next her eyes were open, her ears picking out the low sound of the music she played to help her sleep. It was nearly pitch black in the room, as always, but for some reason the darkness brought her no comfort this time. She hesitated before slowly scooting to the side of her bed and pulling back the curtain. Moonlight illuminated the room, revealing nothing. Of course there was nothing. She looked to the door, in case Harry had decided to check on her, but it was still closed. She looked out the window…

And saw a figure illuminated in white light, looking up. At her window. _At her_.

It wasn’t exactly the person Lena had seen in Webby’s photos — her feathers were white instead of green, and she looked washed out. But the face, the _eyes_ …

Lena shrieked, propelling herself back and away from the window. She scrambled back until the bed disappeared from under her hands, and she fell head over heels, tumbling to the floor.

The light flicked on, momentarily blinding her. “Lena?” It was Harry, with Violet peeking in behind him. Nico was working overnight — not the first time, he usually pulled a night shift two or three times a month. But Lena suddenly felt so much more vulnerable without him home. “What’s wrong, pajarito rosa?”

“I… I saw…” She shook her head and scrambled up, grabbing the curtain and ripping it open. The yard was empty.

“Saw what?” Harry asked, taking a step forward, expression serious. He wasn’t a fighter, but he could swing a baseball bat to defend his girls. Lena shook her head slowly, jumping off the bed and running passed her father and sister, down the stairs and straight to the back door. The yard was still empty.

_What?_

“Lena, what’s going on?” Harry asked from the living room entrance. She shook her head again, scrubbing her eyes and stepping back.

“Nothing. I… think I had a bad dream.”

Harry rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, tugging her into a hug. “Come on, pajarito. Let’s get you back to bed.”

Lena followed Harry back upstairs, not meeting Violet’s concerned gaze. It was just a dream, she convinced herself as she got back into bed with her noise-canceling headphones and clapped them over her ears. She was imagining things. She was on edge with all the new stuff she had learned about herself. It was okay. Everything was okay.

She was okay.

* * *

“Are you okay?”

“Hm?” Lena looked up from her book. She was _supposed_ to be studying, but Webby had come over and offered to keep her company while she worked. Not that she was getting much done, she thought, casting the book aside. She wasn’t in the mood for English homework anyways.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I um…” She rubbed her eyes, sighing. “I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Do you have nightmares?”

“Sometimes. Usually some shadow thing yelling at me. I’m guessing that’s Magica?”

“Probably. I never noticed her in your shadow.” Webby frowned. “I should have noticed her. I’m sorry.”

“Hey.” Lena nudged Webby with her foot. “It’s no big deal. I mean, I was clearly great at keeping at secrets. There was no way for you to know.”

“But I was your _friend_ , and friends are supposed to protect each other like… like you did for me.” Webby shoulders hunched, and she looked away. Great. Lena hadn’t mean to upset her.

“It’s okay. Really. Things worked out, didn’t they?” Lena gestured around the room. “I think I’ve got a pretty good deal going here.”

Webby smiled weakly, looking back at her. “You do. I’m so glad you have a family that loves you.” She bounced over to hug Lena tight. Lena’s life now was so much better than Webby imagined it had been like, and she was happy. After everything that had happened, Lena deserved her own happy ending.


	11. A Place To Call Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena tries to live her normal life around increasing hallucinations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double feature y'all! I'm posting this now and the next chapter very soon. It's my second favorite chapter of this entire story. Take from that what you will :)

It was almost impossible to imagine Lena going to _school_. Webby couldn’t fathom sitting through lecture after lecture for an amount of time that might as well have been _forever_.

But apparently Lena did it. She and Violet met Webby and the triplets outside of Burger Barn with their school bags on their shoulders. It was _weird_.

“Can you get me some fries?” Lena asked as she slumped down across from Webby, chin resting on the table, tapping away on her phone.

“Why can’t you get them?”

“I haven’t had my phone _all day_. I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“That’s _your_ fault for playing on it during History.”

“Dewey can get your food!” Webby said cheerfully, shoving Dewey, who was on the edge of the bench, out of his seat.

“Hey, why me?!”

“Well, you’re already standing.”

“Can’t argue with that logic,” Louie said, sipping the last of his drink. “Can you get me a refill?”

Dewey grumbled under his breath, snatching his brother’s cup and storming over to the counter. “Hey, look.” Lena held out her phone to Violet. “I got two more followers.”

“Fascinating. Two-hundred and eighty-three people follow you for your landscape photos.”

“What is it?” Webby asked, leaning over the table. Lena turned her phone to show Webby her instagram account. It was mostly photos of the beach and sunsets and night skies, with a few pictures of baked goods and selfies thrown in between. “Ooooooooooooooooh!” She snatched the phone out of her hand to begin scrolling.

“Actually, Harry’s cakes get the most views and likes. I keep telling him if he’d just let me do his social media he’d probably double his customer base.”

“Amazing. He’s not interested in the business opinions of a thirteen year old?”

Lena grabbed a balled up straw wrapper and threw it at Violet, but she was laughing and Violet was smiling, so Webby assumed this was a regular thing.

“You _do_ take some really good photos,” she said as she handed the phone back — after making sure Lena was following her own account. Dewey was grumbling as he returned to the table, giving Violet and Lena their food and shoving the drink at his brother.

“Anyone else want me as a servant?”

“I mean, if you’re offering—”

Dewey kicked Louie before sitting down again. “So you don’t remember anything,” Huey said slowly, “but you know how to use social media?”

“Yeah, my brain still works. And it’s not hard.”

“How did you even find out instagram existed?”

“I spent five minutes online.”

“Ooooooh, you have instagram?” Dewey asked, leaning forward. “How many followers do you have?”

“Don’t answer that,” Huey said quickly. “He’ll throw a fit if he finds out you have more than him.”

“Please.” Dewey rolled his eyes. “There’s no way she has more followers than I do.”

“How many do you have again?”

“Six.”

“You know, let’s talk about something else, maybe,” Lena suggested, tucking her phone away. She didn’t want to see what a Dewey fit looked like.

“Actually, I have another question,” Huey spoke up. “If you have _complete_ amnesia, how do you remember things like how to talk and eat and your name?”

Lena shrugged. “I dunno, magic or some voodoo? I don’t know how to explain my existence.”

“But it doesn’t make any _sense_ , amnesia is the result of head injuries—”

“Huey, you’re trying to logic a not-logic thing again,” Webby pointed out gently. She could tell Lena was already uncomfortable with this line of questioning and didn’t want to make it worse.

“This is why magic is the worst. There’s no logic to it.”

“Actually, there’s plenty of logic,” Violet argued, pointing a fry at Huey. “You shouldn’t dismiss something just because you don’t understand it.”

“I’m not _dismissing_ it—”

“Have you ever actually tried to learn anything about it?”

“Magica turned gold into ice cream! How is there any rhyme or reason in that?”

The words were lost in an echo has Lena’s hearing faded away, and her head snapped up. She could still see beaks moving, but there was no sound, no shaking of ice in a cup as Louie sipped his drink, or crinkling as Dewey played with the paper from his fries basket. All she heard was a loud buzz.

 _Leeeeeenaaaaa_ …

She gasped sharply, doubling over on herself as pain exploded in her chest, and the world came rushing back. She heard several voices calling her name, and a familiar hand rested on her shoulder.

“Breathe,” Violet coaxed her gently. “You need to breathe, Lena, come on…”

It took a moment for her lungs to start working again, and that just made the pain worse. “Is she okay?”

“Should we call someone?”

“It’s fine, I’m fine,” Lena managed to grit out, forcing herself to straighten up. “It happens sometimes.”

“I don’t think ‘it happens’ necessarily equals ‘it’s fine’,” Huey said nervously.

“That we agree on,” Violet said quietly. “But she’s been to the doctor multiple times and they’ve never found anything seriously wrong with her.”

“It’s fine,” Lena said, a bit louder. She could see Webby out of the corner of her eye, and pointedly ignored the worried expression. “Like I said, it happens. Probably has something to do with the way I… died or whatever, I dunno.”

“Does it still hurt?” Violet asked.

“It’s starting to go away.” Lena took a deep breath. It was mostly painless. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

She cast a wary look out the window they were sitting next to, frowning. She had heard someone calling her name… hadn’t she? That familiar voice…

Webby caught her staring out the window; after a hesitant moment, she reached across the table and rested her hand over Lena’s. The teen jumped, looking back to meet Webby’s gaze.

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” Lena tried to smile. “Totally okay.”

* * *

Lena’s insomnia was getting worse. Even the sleeping meds weren’t keeping her asleep. Nico had said something about adjusting her dosage, but that required going to the doctor, and she _really_ didn’t want to do that.

One particularly cold, cloudy night find Lena sitting outside at three a.m., wrapped in her sweatshirt and cutting a hole into the side of a plastic tote while two kittens played at her feet. The little tuxedo boy had gotten the upper-hand on his sister, a mostly black cat with white rings around her eyes.

“Stop biting,” Lena scolded, reaching out to separate the two. “That’s not how we play in this house.”

Tuxedo Boy responded by latching on to Lena’s thumb. It didn’t _hurt_ , and Lena knew she should shake him off. But it was kind of funny.

“Teaching him bad habits?” Nico teased from the door. “He’s not allowed in the house if he’s a biter.”

“In the…” Lena blinked, realization dawning in. “You’ll let me bring them inside?”

“Well it’s starting to get a bit cold out here, and they _do_ seem fond of you…”

Lena carefully pulled her thumb from Tuxedo and jumped up, closing the space between her and Nico to hug him. He was pleasantly surprised by the reaction; he and Harry had talked about just letting Lena have her two kittens — they were still young enough that they could be socialized and made into happy house cats. And Lena had been struggling. They wanted to give her something good.

Still, a show of unrestrained emotion wasn’t exactly what Nico had been expecting. He smiled, hugging her tight.

“We need to take them to the vet, of course, get them vaccinated, make sure they’re old enough to be separated from their mother… and you’re in charge of them.”

That last part was mostly an empty order — Harry would end up cuddling and feeding them just as much, if not more, than Lena did.

“I see you’re working on another home for the rest of them.”

“Oh, yeah.” Lena turned back to her project. “Trying to. Couldn’t find the boxcutter though.”

“The scissors certainly aren’t going to do the job you want.” Nico tsk-ed. “Hang on.”

He slipped back into the house, and Lena went back to the kittens, scooping up Rings and smiling. Tuxedo nipped at her ankle.

“All right.” Nico announced his return. “You have the bedding and the sandpaper?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s get to work, then.”

They had realized fairly early on that arguing with Lena about lying in bed when she couldn’t sleep wouldn’t do any good. Instead they tried to catch her on those nights and kept her company until she needed to be carried back to bed.

Nico took over cutting the hole in the tote while Lena played with the kittens, letting them chase and hunt her hand before pulling it away at the last second. “Can they come in tonight? It’s cold.”

“We need to make sure they don’t have fleas, first.” Oh, he hated seeing that disappointment in her eyes. “Mr. and Mrs. Robins have their garage open, the kittens will be fine in there. We’ll see if we can get an appointment with a vet this weekend. You _know_ they’ll come back.”

“Yeah, I know…” Lena sighed, petting Rings’ tiny head. “I just feel bad for them. They’re so small, and they don’t have anyone else to take care of them.”

Nico highly doubted the kittens were neglected; half the neighborhood left food out for them or left their garages open or both. He had a feeling Lena was projecting a bit, though, even if she didn’t realize it.

Lena was quiet, letting Rings chase her hand for a moment. Nico watched him out of the corner of his eye, trying to decide whether or not to speak. “Do any of my medications cause hallucinations?” she asked suddenly, catching Nico off guard.

“I… don’t believe so, no.” He wasn’t a psychiatrist, but he knew medications and their side effects. None of Lena’s had anything worse than possibly dizziness or sleepiness, and it had been months since she had started them. Side effects definitely would have presented before now. “Why?” Lena shook her head, gaze empty. That wasn’t reassuring. “Pajarito?”

“I… I’ve been seeing things. I think. Well, one thing. A person.” Lena shivered, curling her legs up to her chest. “I think.”

Nico finished cutting the hole out and began sanding the edges to smooth them out. “Who do you think you’ve been seeing?”

“Um… Magica?” Her tone was hesitant, wavering. “Maybe? I don’t know.”

Nico’s jaw clenched. “The _bruja_?”

“Yeah. I don’t know, maybe I’m just crazy.”

“We’ve gone over this many times, Lena,” Nico scolded her gently. “You’re not crazy. Do you feel unsafe?”

“No. But what if I’m seeing things? What if I’m really losing it? I mean, I’m just a shadow, right? Maybe I’m… deteriorating or something.”

“Or maybe you’re over-tired and scaring yourself,” Nico cut in. Or maybe she really _was_ seeing the witch who had tried to kill her. But he didn’t want to make Lena feel worse. “When was the last time you slept through the night?”

“I’m not sure,” Lena admitted. “I wake up and fall back to sleep a lot.”

“We should really go to the doctor and talk about your sleeping meds. In the mean time, you can always grab Harry’s baseball bat if you’re worried.” Lena smiled a little. “And you can talk to us. You know that right?”

“Yeah.” Lena leaned against him, letting her eyes flutter shut. “I know.”

Nico kissed the top of her head, smiling. They had come a _long_ way from the scared, nearly mute girl who had come to them so many months earlier…

“Oh, you know what we still need to talk about?” Lena raised her head, raising an eyebrow, and Nico grinned. “Un cumpleaños.”

“A…” Lena made face. “Birthday? Whose birthday?” Nico just watched her. “ _My_ birthday? Why do I need a birthday?”

“Well it’s how we generally mark the passage of time. Beside, Violet has a birthday. You need one as well.”

Lena ducked her head, hiding her face. “Do not,” she muttered. “It’s not a big deal. I’ve probably never had a birthday. I wasn’t even _born_.”

“That doesn’t mean your existence shouldn’t be celebrated.”

Rings nipped at Lena’s fingers. She didn’t notice. “I mean… what’s there to celebrate? Fifteen years of some witch living in my shadow, then almost nine months of amnesia? That’s not a great life.”

“But this is the start of making it better.” Nico nudged her gently. “I know the last nine months have been hard, but you’ve been happy, haven’t you?”

“Yeah.” And it was true. She had a good family, a nice home — what more could she ask for besides two kittens sleeping on her bed?

“Then that’s what we’re celebrating — your new life. A happier life. Isn’t that worth something?”

“It’s worth a lot.” Lena scrubbed her arm across her eyes, smiling weakly. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

“I’m sure there’s _something_ better,” Nico joked. “Although Harry’s cooking and baking are certainly a point in our favor.”

“Really, it’s the food I stay for.”

“I’m sure.” Nico shook his head, chuckling. “Pass me the bedding.”

Lena grabbed the bag of hay bedding, and Nico began padding the tote with it. “Hey… Nico?”

He looked up at her hesitant voice. “Yes?”

Her eyes were fixed on the ground as she spoke. “I… I love you. And Harry. And Violet. I know I don’t really say it enough, or thank you for everything you’ve done for me, but…”

The words drifted into nothing as Nico wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a tight hug. “You don’t need to say it,” he assured her. “We’re family. We know.”


	12. Tumbling Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And just like that, normal is over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you missed it, this is the second update of the night, because I'm too impatient to wait. So go back and read the previous chapter if you haven't! ...it's the last bit of fluff you'll see for a while.

_When am I ever going to need this?_

Lena yawned, resting her head on her hand. Her teacher was reading out passages from some play she had already forgotten the name of, and his voice was the _worst_. It was so monotone and boring…

Violet kicked Lena under her desk, and she jumped. She was lucky Violet was in class with her. Although letting her sleep probably would have been a better use of her time; sleep in class, read the book alone at home when she couldn’t sleep at night. It wasn’t the best solution, but it was better than this.

“Ms. Sabrewing?”

“Yes?” Violet and Lena said at the same time. The teacher raised an eyebrow, and nodded to Lena.

“Do you need to step out for a nap?”

Lena blushed. “No, sir.”

“Then pay attention.”

Lena pouted, slumping down in her seat and looking at Violet. Violet shrugged and tapped her notebook, assuring Lena she could borrow her notes.

The teacher’s voice turned into a buzzing drone as Lena tuned out again, staring at nothing in particular. This was definitely her least favorite class…

A lone buzz started whining in Lena’s ears, raising slowly in pitch. Her head snapped up, eyes swiveling automatically to the door. Her vision was starting to waver around the edges, turning dark…

But she could still see the figure in the door. The black hair. The robes. The white feathers.

The yellow, serpent-like eyes.

 _Lee-naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa_ …

Lena screamed, shoving away from her desk, overweighing her chair, and toppling over. Her head slammed against the wall to her left, momentarily disorienting her.

“Lena?”

She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision, and saw Violet kneeling beside her, the teacher and half the class behind her, looking on in worry. “Vi…?”

It took her a moment to reorient herself; she shot up suddenly as her mind caught up, looking to the door. It was open, looking out into an empty hall. “Be careful.” Violet stood to steady her sister, frowning. “Are you okay?”

“I… yeah…”

“You should probably have the nurse look at your head,” the teacher said. “Violet, can you walk her to the nurse’s office?”

“Yes, of course.”

Violet kept a hand on Lena’s arm as they left the classroom behind, letting the teacher’s call back to order fade away. Lena slumped against the lockers as soon as they turned the corner.

“Are you okay? Your head—”

“My head is fine.” Lena’s voice was slightly high-pitched. She could barely feel the headache she knew was blooming. “Something’s _wrong_.”

“You hit your head quite hard, I’m sure—”

“It’s not my head!”

Lena didn’t mean to yell as loud as she did, and she felt bad, especially when two teachers came out of their classrooms to see what was going on. “She… fell out of her seat and hit her head,” Violet explained. “I was just taking her to the nurse.”

Apparently Violet was reliable enough that they let it pass with nothing more than a light scolding before returning to their classrooms. “What do you mean it’s not your head?” Violet asked quietly, positioning herself in front of the other teen. “Lena, what’s going on?”

“I… I don’t know.” She shook her head, wincing. “I keep seeing… _things_ , Violet. _Her_.”

“Her?”

“M… Magica.” Saying the name sent a shiver up her spine. “She was in the hallway—”

“Lena, you fell asleep,” Violet said gently. “You had a nightmare.”

“It wasn’t a nightmare! Violet, I see her _everywhere_. Walking home from therapy, in the backyard at night, I _hear her voice_ , how do I even remember what her voice sounds like?”

Violet couldn’t answer that. “You’re overtired and stressed out,” she said instead. “You should go home for the day. The nurse can call Papi to pick you up.”

Violet didn’t believe her. It was like a violent punch that knocked the air out of Lena. Violet, who had always been supportive and protective and loving in her own way, didn’t believe Lena.

Her shoulders fell, and she nodded silently, following Violet to the nurse’s office. She let the smaller bird do most of the talking, keeping her eyes on the floor. The headache was starting to make itself known.

“And I really just think she needs to go home and get some rest. And maybe an icepack for her head.”

The nurse took a look, and concluded that Lena had a nasty bump, but probably wouldn’t need to see a doctor. She did give Lena an icepack and sent her to lie down while she called Harry, though.

“Go back to class,” Lena mumbled as Violet started to follow. “Someone needs to get notes.”

Violet hesitated. “Lena, I—”

“Just go, Vi.”

Lena had told her something personal. Something she was terrified of. And Violet had dismissed it. That had hurt.

Violet stared at her back for a moment before leaving, knowing she had made a mistake. Whether the Magica sightings were real or not, they were real to Lena. She should have taken them seriously.

Lena laid in bed, pretending to sleep, until Harry came to pick her up. She listened to the whispered conversation, then pretended to wake up when Harry put a hand on her shoulder.

“Come along, rosa. Let’s get you home and into bed.”

They were quiet for the first half of the ride home. “Nico told me your worries,” Harry finally said. Lena should have expected that. “Do you really think you’re seeing Magica?”

“I… I don’t _know_.” Lena buried her face in her hands, trying not to cry. “I don’t know, I don’t know, but it feels real, I hear her voice in my head, calling my name…god what if we’re _connected_ somehow? I’m part of her, aren’t I?”

“No,” Harry said firmly. “You’re you. You’ve always been you. Nothing will change that. Have some faith in yourself, pajarito rosa. Or at least believe that we believe it.”

“I believe you,” she said quietly. Harry smiled.

“Good.”

It wa a relief to get home. The darkness of Lena’s room had never been so inviting. She fell into her pillow, yawning, and let her eyes flutter shut.

Harry was humming as he puttered around the kitchen, getting the things he needed for potato soup — Lena’s favorite. Nico and Violet could live without having an opinion for the night.

He was just trying to decide whether they had enough potatoes or if he had to get more when the front door exploded.

It didn’t just bang open. It didn’t bounce off the wall. There was a loud, ear-splitting _boom_ as the door flew off its hinges, breaking into pieces against the stairs. Harry whirled around, grabbing a sharp knife off the counter, prepared to fight.

Lena had also been roused by the noise, and was stumbling out of bed, still half asleep. All she could imagine was Harry in the kitchen, the stove exploding, Harry on fire and _hurt_ …

It was a relief — a very momentary relief — when she saw the front door blown off its hinges. Until she saw the figure in the door.

“It’s about _time_.” The woman sounded disgusted. “How is it _so hard_ to get you alone? Your company isn’t all that great. I should know better than anyone.”

“¡Aléjate de ella!” Harry snarled as he stormed out of the kitchen. He had a _knife_. Lena certainly hadn’t expected that. A frying pan or some other blunt object, maybe, but a _knife_? Hardcore, she thought blearily. The woman laughed.

“Are you going to _fight_ me? Please.” She drew a shining blue dagger out from beneath her cloak. “You’re outmatched. Just sit down and wait for me to finish my business.”

“If you put one hand on her—”

“You’ll _what_? Bake me a cake?”

“Leave him alone,” Lena said as forcefully as she could, clenching her fists. Magica de Spell rolled her eyes, turning back to her niece.

“Or _what_? You people and your empty threats—”

“What do you want?” Lena cut her off. Magica looked offended.

“I _want_ to finish a sentence. And my powers back, if you’d please.” She held out a hand, the dagger still pointed in Harry’s direction.

“I don’t have your powers. I don’t have anything.”

“ _Liar_ ,” Magica snarled, jabbing the dagger at Harry, who was still clenching the knife. “You still exist. You have the amulet. I want it.”

 _The amulet_. Lena’s ears were ringing. No, no, no. Not that stupid amulet. It couldn’t all come back to _that_.

“I… I don’t have it.”

“Don’t play games with me, you little brat,” Magic snapped, starting forward. Harry tried to take advantage of the distraction, diving at Magica; she reacted surprisingly fast, whirling and swinging the dagger.

“ _Harry_!”

It looked like she only nicked his arm, but there was so much blood. Lena squeezed her eyes shut, stumbling back and falling on the stairs. She heard Harry yell, and his knife was dropped.

“Stop it,” she begged, opening her eyes to look at Magica. “I don’t have what you want. Just leave us alone.”

“ _You_ can’t exist without _my_ magic.” Magica turned the dagger on Lena. “Now make it easy, or I’ll cut you open and take it out with my bare hands!”

_“So you found Lena near the same place Violet found Magica’s amulet. That may be more than a coincidence. Have you seen the amulet?”_

_“Yeah, Violet had it for months. I hated it.”_

_“Why?”_

_“I’m not sure. Something about the way it made me feel. It was… wrong.”_

_“So I’m assumin’ you never touched it.”_

_“You had that amulet the entire time I knew you.”_

_“And when Magica came back, she took it — and you. … It’s not much of a jump to assume it could help with your memories—”_

The constant feeling of _missing_ something. The pain in her chest, like someone had carved a hole into her. Lena slowly raised a hand and pressed it to her chest. _Was she supposed to have the amulet?_

_Wham!_

Harry Sabrewing wouldn’t be kept down. He had grabbed an umbrella and swung it like a baseball bat, hitting Magica right in the temple. She staggered, momentarily stunned; Lena was pretty sure she’d heard the umbrella crack.

“Lena, run,” he ordered his daughter, still gripping the umbrella. She wanted to argue, but logic kicked in — _she_ was the one Magica wanted. If she ran, the witch would leave Harry alone. She met Harry’s gaze for a moment before nodding and throwing herself at the door, running straight down the sidewalk.

She had only made it halfway down the street when a plume of smoke exploded in front of her. “Running away?” Magica tsk-ed, stepping out of the fading smoke. “Honestly, I don’t know if you’re worse now than you were _before_ I killed you.”

“Don’t—”

Lena tried to step back and run, but Magica grabbed her by the wrist, jerking her forward. Smoke consumed them, and the world went dark.

* * *

Nico Sabrewing was, above all, a logical being.

It was something Violet had inherited from him. The ability to stay calm and analyze a situation. To keep fear at bay long enough to construct a plan. To see through the emotions and stay rational.

That all went out the window when his family was threatened.

Violet had called him during her lunch period to tell him what had happened with Lena. He tried not to be too annoyed that Harry hadn’t told him; he was sure his husband had been too busy making all of Lena’s favorite meals. Instead he had called, waiting… and waiting… and waiting…

No answer.

He was probably busy cooking. Nico had shaken his head and called Lena next. Even if she was asleep, her phone always woke her up. _Ring… ring… ring…_

No answer. Nico tried to stay calm, taking a deep breath as he texted them both. _Did you forget how to answer your phones? Somebody call me_.

He had waited half an hour, puttering around the mostly quiet ER. One person was brought in during that time — a child who had fallen and twisted his ankle. The mother was crying more than he was. _He_ kept asking if he was going to have a cool scar. Nico had laughed, feeling bad about dashing his hopes. He sent the child off to get an x-ray, and checked his phone.

Nothing.

He had been prepared to argue and beg to leave. This wasn’t like Harry or Lena. They never made him wait. Especially not when something was happening. But his supervisor knew him, and knew he wasn’t the kind to overreact. If he thought something was wrong, then something was wrong.

All of that had led him here, sitting in his car, in his driveway, staring at the gaping hole where the front door of the house used to be. Emotion was at war with logic. If he just ran in there, he could end up like the front door. If he didn’t do anything, he left his family in danger. He needed a weapon.

 _Ah_. He quickly opened the truck and went to get the crowbar, gripping it tight. He walked to the house, slowly peeking inside…

“Harry!”

And any semblance of logic was lost. Nico dropped the crowbar, hurrying to Harry’s unconscious body (oh, he hoped it was only _unconscious_. There was so much blood…). “Harry, wake up.” Nico urged, finding a weak but steady pulse. He breathed slightly easier, looking for the source of the blood — a cut on his arm. “ _Harry_.”

It took a moment, but finally Harry stirred, groaning. “Oh Dios. ¿Alguien encontró el pastel?”

“¿Qué?” Nico started checking his head again. “Hernaldo, focus.”

Harry blinked a few times, then shot up surprisingly fast. “Lena!”

Nico jumped back on his heels, nearly falling over. “What? What about Lena? What _happened_?”

“That… that _bruja_ , her aunt—” Harry’s face darkened, “she was here, she kept demanding Lena give her some amulet.”

“Amulet?” Nico frowned, momentarily distracted. Lena had come to them with nothing but the clothes on her back and the world on her shoulders. “Where’s Lena now?”

“I told her to run.” Harry was shaking. “I told her to get away, and that woman knocked me out…”

Nico cradled Harry’s head gently, holding him close. “Ssshhh, mi amor. I’m sure you did everything you could.”

“I hit her with an umbrella.”

Nico had to struggle not to laugh. “Of course you did.” He kissed Harry’s head. “Stay here. I’m going to get the first-aid kit.”

He squeezed Harry once before hurrying up the stairs. He retrieved the first-aid kit from the bathroom, and was on his way back down when he saw Lena’s open door. They never went into the girls’ rooms without permission. They trusted their daughters.

But if there was something in there that could help…

Nico let himself into the room, scanning it. It was mostly normal, save for the old book sitting on her desk. She hadn’t told them anything about it, other than it was part of her old life. They had left it to her.

Now, Nico scooped it up, flipping through a few pages. The words broke his heart. Questioning her existence, her morality, her growing self hatred, the drawings of shadows…

He closed the book and hurried back downstairs. “Stop touching it,” he scolded Harry, swatting his hand away from the cut. “Let me see.”

“Preocupante quisquilloso,” Harry muttered, letting Nico do his work. He eyed the book. “Isn’t that Lena’s?”

“Si. Something tells me we’ll find answers in it. How does your arm feel?” It wasn’t a _deep_ cut. How had it bled so much? “What did she cut you with?”

“I’m not sure. It looked like a blue dagger. It was _sharp_.”

Nico made a noise, trying to prioritize. His daughter was alone with a crazy witch who had a dagger. Everything in him was screaming to find her.

But he had no idea where she was, or where to start. There would probably be answers in that book. And Harry was in front of him, bleeding. This was something he could take care of _now_. But he couldn’t just forget Lena.

Harry seemed to be reading Nico’s mind. “Violet may know something about an amulet.”

“True.” Nico’s eyes sought out a clock. It was almost one-thirty. “She doesn’t get out of school for another hour.”

“Then go get her. Ah!” Harry held up a finger when Nico started to protest. “I don’t want to involve her either, but she might have answers. You go pick her up, I’ll start reading the book. We need to find Lena.”

Nico’s expression was tense for a moment before he sighed, gently kissing Harry. “Te quiero.”

“Yo te quiero más.”

“We’re too old for that game,” Nico insisted, but he was smiling.

“We’re never too old for that game.” Harry brushed his fingers over Nico’s cheek. “Now get going.”

Nico nodded, standing. “I’ll be back soon.”

“I’ll be here.”


	13. Getting Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sabrewings attempt to piece together Lena's past to find her. Magica... threatens to turn Lena *into* pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting close now.....

Violet had only been taken out of school twice in her entire life.

The first time was when she was six, after Harry’s mother had died. It was a Wednesday, and she had been out of school until the following Tuesday. The second time was when she was ten and Nico had somehow fallen down a set of stairs at work and broken his leg (to this day he refused to explain how; Harry maintained he had been too engrossed in reading something and missed a step).

So when the announcement came for her to report to the office for dismissal, she knew something was seriously wrong.

“Papá?” She frowned when she saw Nico in the office. It had been Harry who had picked up Lena… “What’s—”

He shook his head. They walked out to the car in silence, Violet trying to stamp down her growing anxiety and all the questions.

“Do you know anything about Lena and an amulet?” Nico asked as soon as they were in the car. Of all the things Violet had been expecting, that wasn’t it.

“I… um… why?”

“Because that… _bruja_ was in our house looking for it, and she took Lena.”

Violet felt like someone had squeeze the air out of her lungs. “She what? Magica was in our _house_? Is Papi okay?”

They were pulling out of the school parking lot by now, Nico driving just a little faster than he should have been. “Papi’s okay. But if you know anything else, now is the time to tell us. Do you know anything about an amulet?”

“I… do, yes,” Violet said slowly, looking at her bag. “I found it on the beach the day of the Shadow War. I didn’t know what it was, so I brought it home. I spent months trying to learn more about it. I knew it was connected to Lena somehow because she could always tell when I took it out.”

“So you have it?”

“Not anymore. I left it with Webby. She said Scrooge had a place for dangerous things, and Lena kept telling me to get rid of it…”

“So it’s at the McDuck manor.” Why wouldn’t Lena just tell Magica that? Nico knew the answer as soon as he asked himself the question, and he felt bad for thinking it. She was trying to protect them, of course. She could have told Magica where the amulet was and saved herself, but she wouldn’t betray them.

Violet had to restrain herself from bolting out of the still-moving car when she saw the lack of front door. She ran out as soon as the car stopped, heading straight for the house.

“Papi?”

“In the kitchen, colibri,” Harry called. Violet carefully stepped over the blood on the floor, hurrying to the kitchen. He was at the table, looking through Lena’s journal. Violet immediately threw herself at him, hugging him tight. “Violet!” He sounded surprised as he scooped her up. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

“Anything useful in the journal?” Nico asked. He looked exhausted. Harry felt the same way.

“Not useful for our current problem, but a depressing look into Lena’s past.” Harry shook his head. “A few drawings of what I assume is the amulet, but nothing helpful.”

“It’s at McDuck manor,” Violet said quietly. “I gave it to them.”

“You _had_ it?” She nodded slowly. “We know where it is, then. What happens if we just give it to Magica?”

“I don’t think they would let us,” Violet said. “From what I’ve gathered, it’s the source of Magica’s powers.”

“What about Lena? Any hints where Magica might have taken her?”

Harry shook his head. Violet wiggled out of her father’s arms to get her phone. “What’re you—”

“Webigail might know something,” Violet explained. She hoped Webby would know something.

* * *

Lena hit the ground with a grunt, scrambling up and looking around. She had just enough to time to see she was under the theater when the dagger was shoved in her face.

“Now, you have a choice. You can give me the amulet, or we can spend a few hours here, where no one will hear you scream.”

A shudder ran up Lena’s spine. “I thought you lost your powers?”

“I _did_ , thanks to you, you little welp!” Magica snapped, the dagger waving wildly. Lena staggered back. “I have to leech magic off objects like some kind of amateur! But I’ll be able to fix all that once you _give me my amulet_!”

“I don’t have it!”

“Liar!”

Magica swiped the dagger at her; she tripped in her attempt to dodge, falling to the ground again. “I’m not lying!” she said desperately. “I don’t have the amulet, I’ve never even touched it!”

Magica growled, diving at Lena, who barely managed to crawl out of the way. “Did you think you could just hide with your pathetic little family and live _happily ever after_?” Lena grabbed a pot with a dead plant, throwing it at Magica. She ducked around it, storming toward the teen. “You’re pathetic, you’re _nothing_! You’re not worth the physical form you have!”

Her next weapon was the lava lamp. Magica tried to block it with her arm, but it broke, sending liquid and glass flying. “I’ll rip my powers out of you, and erase you from every plane of existence, and nobody will miss you!”

Lena heard the _clink_ of the dagger bouncing off the back wall as she ducked; she stumbled and tripped, falling into the corner between the wall and the bed, curling into a ball.

Momentary peace fell over the small room.

And then… Magica started laughing. “Oh _god_. I knew some of your memories were muddled, but you… you really _don’t_ remember, do you?” Her laughter echoed around the walls. “Oh, I knew you were a bit scrambled. I thought you were pretending. But you don’t remember _anything_.” The tip of the dagger tapped against her arm, and she looked up. “You don’t have the amulet. But you know where it is, don’t you?” A wicked smile pulled at Magica’s beak. “You have one more chance, my dear niece. If you tell me where it is, I’ll let you live.”

Lena curled up tighter on herself. “Is it at that little _home_ of yours? Does your _family_ know where to find it?”

“Leave them alone!” Lena snapped, straightening again. “They have nothing to do with it!”

A hand shot out, clasping around Lena’s neck and slamming her back against the wall. “Tell me where it is, or I’ll start with that annoying little bird.”

Tears filled Lena’s eyes. “Stop it,” she whimpered. Magica made mock whimpering noises.

“ _Stop it_. You’re pathetic. I thought I raised you better than that.” Her fingers tightened around Lena’s neck for a moment before realization set in. “Oh. Oh ho ho. Of course. You did the smart thing, didn’t you? You left it with your little friend Webster—”

“Webby—”

“ _Whatever_. McDuck has it, doesn’t he?”

The tip of dagger pressed to Lena’s cheek. She could feel it threatening to dig in. “One last chance. You can tell me and keep your own, pathetic life. Or I can get it myself, and kill you for your betrayal. _Again._ ”

Tears filled Lena’s eyes. Magica smirked, quickly swiping the tip across Lena’s cheek and dropping her. She could already feel blood welling up. “I guess it’s time for me and Scroogie to have another talk, then. You just lie here and wait to die, Leeeee-na. I promise to make it quick.”

“Wait—”

Too late. Magica had already disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

“Are they _sure_ it was Magica?”

“Violet didn’t see her, but her dad seems pretty convinced.” Webby looked up from her phone to meet Scrooge’s eye, trying not to look shaken. “They’re coming over.”

“Probably for the best if the old hag is running around,” Scrooge murmured. “Any thoughts on where she might have taken Lena?”

Webby shook her head. She didn’t know nearly enough about Magica’s relationship with Lena to even guess. “All right.” Scrooge turned to Beakley. “Tell Della to keep the kids upstairs. Webby, you should—” He stopped abruptly at the glare she gave him, “make whatever preparations you need. One way or the other, Magica is going to end up here eventually. If we can’t find her, then we can wait for her. She’s not much of a threat without her powers, but she can still channel energy through magical objects. She’s dangerous enough.”

Beakley retreated upstairs to relay the message to Della and the boys. Webby hurried passed her, heading for her own room. Her head was spinning. Magica was here and Lena was gone and _Magica had Lena_ and absolutely nothing was okay.

A car was pulling into the driveway as Webby ran back downstairs, her bag jangling. She went straight for the door and practically flew at Violet, hugging her tight. “Are you okay? Is everyone okay?”

“I’m fine, I was at school when it happened.” Violet pulled back to look at Webby, then her dads. “Papi was home with Lena, but he’s okay.”

“Webby?” She turned to Nico as he said her name. “How different is Magica’s anatomy from our own? Would, say, several blows to the head with a crowbar be sufficient enough to cause brain damage?”

Webby almost laughed, until she realized Nico was completely serious. Magica had hurt his family. She wasn’t getting away with that.

An explosion echoed behind them as something hit the car, and it went up a swirl of flames. Nico and Harry both dove to cover Violet and Webby until the worst of it had died down.

“Magica,” they heard Scrooge growl somewhere in front of them.

“Scroogie,” she all but crooned, a devilish smile pulling at her lips. “Let’s make this simple, shall we? I have your little shadow pet. You have my amulet. Give me what I want, and you can have her back with minimal damage.”

Webby wiggled out from under Nico, clenching her fists. “Give. Her. Back.”

Anyone else would have immediately run from that tone. It wasn’t just cold — it was icy. But Magica wasn’t phased.

“Or what? You’ll cry again?”

“No. I’ll break every bone in your body.”

Nico stood, helping Harry and Violet, and they all turned to face the witch. “Yer out-numbered, Magica,” Scrooge informed her. “If you just walk away now, no one needs to get hurt.”

“I’m not leaving without my amulet.” She pulled a red jewel from her cloak — almost similar to her amulet. Scrooge made a noise Webby didn’t quite get.

“What’ve you gotten yourself into, Magica?”

“I’d explain, but you won’t be alive long enough for it to matter.”

Red light engulfed Magica’s body. They all dove to the side before she could blast them. “Violet, take your dads inside,” Webby ordered, straightening up. Scrooge was standing as well, spinning his cane and clearly ready to fight.

“What—”

“But—”

They both cut off with an _“oof_!” as Beakley picked them up by the back of their shirts and carried them inside. Violet shrugged before following.

“Now then.” Magica smiled mischievously. “My amulet?”

“Over my dead body,” Scrooge snapped.

“That’s part of the plan as well, don’t worry.”

Webby took advantage of the distraction to kick Magica, hitting her right in the side. She yelped as she stumbled, swinging the glowing amulet around to point at Webby. Webby ducked, hitting the ground and black flipping away, distracting her while Scrooge tried to hook her arm with his cane. He almost had her, but she teleported away, reappearing just in time to have a metal foot slam into her face.

“Oh, that felt good!” Della said happily as she landed.

“You were supposed to stay inside with the kids!” Scrooge said, realizing too late that the boys and Donald were with her.

“Isn’t fighting Magica like, the family business or something?” Dewey asked. They were interrupted by another red blast, and quickly scattered.

Beakley was torn. It went against every single instinct to let her granddaughter fight without her, but she also knew if she didn’t stay guard, there would be nothing to stop the Sabrewings. Harry and Nico were practically pressed behind her, looking around, trying to get a look at the fight. They both had murder in their eyes. As someone who had seen her own family in danger, Beakley completely understood their anger. That didn’t mean she was going to let them run in and get hurt, though.

“Violet.”

The girl turned at the hiss of her name. She was surprised to see Lena standing in a nearby door. She pressed a finger to her lips to quiet her sister, then beckoned her over.

“What are you doing?” Violet whispered as soon as she caught up. “How’d you get in here?”

“Back door. Lousy security for a mansion.” They winced as another explosion echoed outside. “C’mon. We’re going to find the amulet.”

“You know where it is?”

“I have a feeling.” Lena eyed the adults in the door before hurrying to the stairs. Violet followed, frowning.

“You’re not going to give it to her, are you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why are we sneaking around?”

She didn’t answer.

They got up onto the second floor landing, and Lena immediately turned left, going down the hall in an almost practiced manner. As if she _remembered_.

She opened a door into what looked like a storage room, going straight to a painting in the back. She grabbed a pole, twisting it and revealing a key. The key went into the painting, and a vault door opened. Violet stared, month hanging open.

“How…?”

“I don’t know.” Lena was shaking. “It just… felt right. Let’s go.”

This must have been the “other bin” Webby had mentioned during the sleepover. They wound down the stairs, each step taken with determination. Lena _knew_ where she was going, even if she didn’t realize it.

They stepped down the metal stairs, Lena hurrying ahead in a way Violet had never seen. She was determined. She was a girl on a mission.

Violet froze at the bottom of the stairs, mouth hanging open. There were so many _doors_ … no wonder Webby had been against going down here. Lena had no such hesitation; she went straight to the first door.

“What are you—”

“No one thinks to check the first one.”

She pulled the door open… and there it was. The amulet, sparkling in the light. Lena was shaking, dull pain pulsing in her chest. _A missing piece_.

“Lena?”

Violet was surprised when Lena turned and hugged her tight. “I love you, Vi,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. Violet slowly returned the hug, uncertain.

“I love you too. But why—”

 _Why are you acting like you’re going to disappear?_ Violet didn’t have a chance to ask the question, though, as Lena pulled away and started into the vault. She reached out a shaking hand, and grasped the amulet.

And the room lit up in purple.


	14. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the pieces are back together.

“Wah!”

It wasn’t the first time Dewey Duck had dodged death. It probably wouldn’t be the last.

But he had at least hoped he would never have to deal with Magic de Spell again.

Webby managed to get another kick in, hitting Magica from behind. The woman growled, whirling around to aim her amulet at Webby. It had quickly become apparent that this magic was _much_ more unstable than whatever power the purple amulet had given her. It was wild, erratic, barely under her control. It was easy to take advantage of, but also dangerous.

Louie and Huey were taking turns playing chicken with Magica, giving others with more fighting experience a chance to hit her. It was frustrating; she was outnumbered, but not outmatched. She could still fight. As long as she had that amulet, and access to power, she could fight.

Scrooge took a swing at her with his cane, and hitting her in the side of the head. “Your power’s going to run out eventually,” he reminded her helpfully as he jumped back, dodging a blast. “And we’ll still be able to fight.”

“Not if I kill you all first!” Magica snarled, taking another aim at Scrooge. He wasn’t quite fast enough to dodge this time, and took a hit to the chest, blasting him back.

Beakley clenched her fists, gritting her teeth. “If I leave you two here, are you going to run into the fight?” she asked the Sabrewings.

“No promises.”

That was the best Beakley could hope for, she decided before barreling out into the battle. Nico, for his part, did his best to restrain himself, and keep his hand on Harry’s shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do, mi amor,” he reminded Harry.

“Get me a frying pan and we’ll see what I can do.”

“Harry—” Nico stopped, realizing something, and looked around. “Violet?” The girl had disappeared. Harry looked back as well, bewildered.

“Where’d she go?”

Webby went in for another punch, but Magica was ready this time. She caught Webby in a red binding and threw her at Dewey, sending them both tumbling to the ground. It was almost deja vu, Webby thought blearily as she straightened up to find herself facing the glaring beam of red, hearing Magica’s maniacal laughter…

And then a burst of white and the sound of colliding magics.

Everyone froze for a second, staring at Magica, who snarled as she tore the amulet away from the purple shield and whirled to the teenage girl a few feet away, dwarfed in a large purple hoodie, a humorless smile pulling at her beak.

“Hey Aunt Magica. Miss me?”

Magica bared her teeth, growling. “So you _do_ have it!”

The witch didn’t even bother with magic; she just ran at her niece. Lena’s eyes flared a familiar pinkish-purple, and energy wrapped around Magica, easily throwing her away.

“You could have stayed away,” Lena said coldly as she approached Magica. The differences between her and the girl she had been for nine months were jarring. It was almost like looking at a different person. “You could’ve just let all this be.”

“I came back for what’s mine,” Magica hissed, readying the read amulet again. Lena raised her hand, gathering pink energy, and the red amulet shattered.

“It’s not yours anymore.”

Magica dove at Lena again, and this time she wasn’t quite quick enough to stop her. The two hit the ground, and a pink bubbled expanded around Lena, throwing Magica off. “You’re a _shadow_! You’re nothing!”

“You gave a shadow life then expected it to be okay with dying,” Lena snapped back as she scrambled up, readying herself. “You brought this on yourself.”

Magica drew a pellet from her cloak, whipping it at the ground in front of Lena. She reacted too late before it exploded.

“Lena!” Several voices yelled. Webby’s was the loudest among them all.

Lena had managed to shield herself, but the explosion still sent her flying back. Her hasty shield faded as she groaned, pushing herself up. Magica was there in an instant, grabbing her by the hood and jerking her forward.

“Let me—”

“Shut up,” Magica hissed, yanking down the zipper on her hoodie, readying the dagger…

A small shield formed in front of Lena’s chest, the shape of the amulet lighting up under her shirt; the dagger bounced harmlessly off of it.

Lena laughed a small, humorless laugh before blasting Magica back. She hit the ground with a hard thud, and noticed Scrooge and his family closing in.

“I told you,” Lena said, pushing herself up to balance on her knees. “It’s not your magic anymore.”

Magica straightened up, glaring at her before looking at the circle being formed around her.

“Ye got nowhere to go, Magica,” Scrooge said, grip tight on his cane. “Ye might as well give up.”

Magica growled through her teeth, pulling a smoke bomb from beneath her cloak. “This isn’t over, McDuck. Not even close.”

Scrooge, Beakley, Della, Donald, and Webby all dove to try and stop her, but it was too late. She was gone.

Lena sighed, collapsing to cross her legs under herself. She looked at the pile of people who had collided into each other while trying to catch Magica, then beyond them, to the door of the mansion. Violet, Harry, and Nico were all staring at her, wide-eyed, mouths hanging open.

 _Well. Ruined that one_.

Webby stumbled out of the pile, looking at Lena with wide, disbelieving eyes. Lena met her gaze, not really sure what to say. Everyone was quiet, watching, as Webby took a couple steps forward. What could she say? How could she prove…

 _Oh_.

“Fancy seeing you here, Brittania,” she finally said in the best, wavering British accent she could muster. Lena straightened up, smiling.

“Where else would I be, Englabeth?” she returned in her worst accent. Webby’s uncertain expression split into a delighted grin.

“Lena!”

She threw herself at Lena, practically collapsing into her lap as she held her tight. Lena returned the hug, tears filling her eyes. “It’s you,” Webby whispered, again and again, voice choked up. “It’s you, it’s you, it’s you.”

“It’s me,” Lena whispered back, unable to contain her smile. “It’s me. It’s me.”

* * *

It was almost funny, a disconnected part of Lena’s mind thought, watching the activity. They had eventually retreated inside, where Beakley, Donald, and Harry began fussing over every cut and bruise the kids had — and none of them were Harry’s kid, of course. _She_ had been perfectly unharmed, and was currently curled into Lena’s side, eyes closed. Webby was on Lena’s other side, curled between her and the corner of the couch. The girls had kind of collapsed into a pile on the couch, and no one had reacted except for Della laying a blanket over them.

Now Lena was watching everyone, strangely warm and exhausted. She had just used a _lot_ of magic in a short amount of time, after nine months. That was a long time to go without practice. She was surprised she had managed as well as she had.

“Lena?”

Scrooge’s voice shook her out of her stupor, and she sought him out, blinking heavily. “I know it’s been a long day, but… I think we all have a few questions.”

“Can’t that wait?” Nico cut in while Harry frowned. “She’s tired—”

“It’s okay.” Lena nudged Violet and Webby, then wiggled out from under the blanket, sitting on the arm of the couch instead. “First question — how did I survive? I… don’t really know. I have some guesses, but…” She waved a vague hand. “That entire time is a bit of a blur. Magica had already been possessing me for like two weeks by that point. I think. Time is completely subjective in this story. So, eclipse day, she used your own ego against you to get you let her in, got her body back, magic-ed me back into her shadow, etc.

“I was… _slightly_ aware of things while I was stuck there. More so when Webby and her bracelet were nearby.” Webby straightened up slightly, surprised. “What? You haven’t figured out yet there’s actual magic in that thing?”

“I… I had a feeling, but…”

“That’s what you get for messing around with magic when we were trying to stop the money shark. You actually made something work. Specifically _my_ magic.”

Webby blinked a few times. “Cool,” she finally breathed, and Lena bit down a laugh.

“Yeah, it was great. Anyway, both our bracelets ended up infused with magic after I broke the connection. The energy had been generated and it needed somewhere to go, so…” She shrugged. “Magica made me get rid of mine. Not because of that, she just thought I was getting too close to you and would inevitably end up betraying her. We see how that worked out.”

Lena paused to collect her thoughts, and sighed. “Anyways, I managed to get out of her shadow, she poofed me… and things are _really_ fuzzy after that. I guess it kind of felt like I was floating? I think I tried to grab on to Webby’s shadow, but I slipped. I guess I really am attached to the stupid amulet. It went flying, and so did I.”

“None of that explains how you survived,” Huey pointed out.

“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure that out. Give me a minute, nerd.” Lena rubbed her temples, sighing. “I remember pain. A _lot_ of pain. Like… I don’t know, like someone was putting a needle through me and sowing me back together.” Webby reached over to gently take Lena’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Lena flashed her a small smile before continuing. “The best I can offer is that the magic keeping me alive was still active, just… a little broken.”

“And you’ve stayed close enough to it the entire time that it’s kept you together,” Violet picked up thoughtfully. “The chest pains got worse after I gave the amulet to Webby.”

Lena raised a hand, pressing it to her chest. “What… happened to the amulet, anyways?” Della spoke up after a minute. Lena and Violet exchanged looks.

_Lena only got a moment to see the amulet before she touched it, and light filled her vision. Her hand felt like it was burning up, energy running up her arm, spreading through her body. She stepped back as the amulet raised into the air, and with a flash, shot into her chest._

_It felt like something was blossoming in the back of her mind. Her memories were rushing back, making her slightly dizzy — or maybe that was the magic flooding through her veins._

_The light faded, and Lena’s knees went weak, giving out. Violet was at her side in a moment, saying something that Lena couldn’t hear over the buzz in her ears. Everything was muddled, two lives colliding. Talking shadows, physics homework, curfews, dinners, stealing to survive—_

_Magica! Lena’s head snapped up, and she started to stand, wavering slightly. “Hang on.” Violet stood with her. “Are you—”_

_“Do you remember how to get back out?”_

_“I — yeah, we didn’t go far—”_

_“Get back to Harry and Nico.”_

_Violet didn’t have time to say anything else before shadows enveloped her, and she disappeared._

“It was the missing piece. I guess the physical equivalent of a soul or something?” Lena shrugged. “Anyways, it’s part of me now. Really not Magica’s anymore.”

“So you… really remember everything now?” Webby asked cautiously.

“Every single thing,” Lena said breezily. “Which really puts school into perspective.”

“What are you going to tell Dr. Lorikeet?” Violet asked curiously. Lena raised an eyebrow.

“Are you kidding? I’m not going back to Dr. Lorikeet.”

“You can’t quit therapy _now_. It’s probably more important than ever.”

“Eh.” Lena waved her off. She scanned the room for a minute, her eyes skimming over each person… before finally landing on Harry and Nico. The two men who had taken her in, who had wanted to _adopt_ her despite knowing nothing about her. They’d kept her safe, they’d raised her in so many ways…

And she had repaid them by bringing Magica de Spell down on their heads.

“Look, about that whole, ya know… adoption thing.” She was trying very hard to make it sound like she didn’t care. And she was succeeding as far as she was concerned. “I’m not going to hold you to it. I mean, I’m not even the kid you want. That was _barely_ me. Like… school, therapy? Please, who has time for that?”

Harry and Nico exchanged long looks, then turned back to her. “Of course, we’d understand if you’ve changed your mind…” Harry started slowly.

“But none of this has changed our feelings,” Nico finished. “We needed a new front door anymore.”

“And now I can replace the carpet in the hall,” Harry added brightly. “I’ve hated that carpet since we moved in.”

“More importantly, though,” Nico continued, “we love you for everything you are. And we’re willing to get to know you again.”

Lena opened and closed her mouth a few times, the cool facade completely fading, replaced with absolute disbelief.

“But… But… Magica—”

“We can take her.”

“I hit her with an umbrella.”

Nico shook his head, resting a hand on his husband’s knee. “Ssshhh, mi amor.”

Lena looked at her hands, surprised to find them shaking. They couldn’t possibly…

“Not for nothing,” Scrooge spoke up, leaning forward, “but I happen to owe Lena a bit of a debt. If there’s anything I can do to help with the house repairs…”

Nico and Harry looked at Scrooge as if seeing him for the first time. “¡Oh Dios mío!” Harry burst out suddenly. “¡Cuánto tiempo he estado sentado aquí, cuánto tiempo ha estado allí, Nico, ¿cómo pudiste dejarme sentarme aquí como un idiota?!”

“Estamos en su _casa_ , ¿de alguna manera extrañaste eso? ¡Hemos estado aquí por horas!”

Scrooge blinked at them as they went back and forth in Spanish. “Ah, I forgot, one of your fathers is a fan, right?”

“Just a bit,” Violet said dryly, rolling her eyes. Lena took advantage of the moment to wipe the tears from her eyes, letting out a shuddering breath. They still wanted her.

Gentle arms wrapped around Lena; she looked at Webby, giving her a small smile, which Webby returned ten-fold. _Webby_ still wanted her.

Lena silently promised not to make any of them regret it.


	15. Sorting Things Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting fifteen years of memories back all at once isn't easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't update yesterday, this week has been.... a lot. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy <3

It was late by the time conversations finally wrapped up; a neighbor had called Harry after seeing the condition of the front door, and had offered to block it off the best they could until they got home.

“Are we staying in a hotel?” Violet asked curiously.

“You can stay here!” Webby blurted out without thinking. She didn’t want Lena to leave yet. “I mean… it’s okay, right?” She looked at Scrooge, rocking back and forth nervously.

“Well, we _do_ have enough room…”

His voice drifted off as Webby squealed, grabbed Lena and Violet, and dragged them off toward the stairs. “Are… Are we getting out daughters back?” Nico asked, blinking a few times.

“I can’t completely say yes.”

Webby’s energy was usually contagious. But Lena’s head was starting to spin, true exhaustion settling in and fogging her mind.

“W-Webs, hang on…”

Webby stopped, looking back; Lena was able to keep enough dignity to not fall over, sitting instead, cradling her head in her hands. “Lena? What’s wrong?”

Panic was already setting in as Webby rushed to Lena’s side, holding her steady. “Nothing, just… a little dizzy,” Lena tried to assure her. It didn’t work. What if this was temporary? What if she was going to disappear? What if—?

“You used a lot of magic,” Violet mused.

“Sure did.”

“Where does that magic come from?”

“Me. Or… my body, you know.”

“And when was the last time you ate?”

“I… oh.” She hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

Violet smiled wryly. “Blood sugar crash. I’ll find you something to eat.”

“I have emergency rations!” Webby said, jumping up and running to the shelves, tugging down a surprisingly big metal box and carrying it over.

“How long has that been up there?”

“I regularly switch out the food that goes stale, don’t worry.” She popped it open to reveal a variety of snacks and water bottles. Lena grabbed one of those first, not quite realizing how thirsty she was until she drained the entire thing in one sip. It had been a long day.

 _This had all been one day_. The thought made Lena a little lightheaded, and she grabbed a granola bar.

Webby watched her for a moment, grinning, before suddenly diving at Lena and hugging her tight. “Whoa — jeez, Pink—”

“You’re really here,” she whispered, pressing her face into Lena’s neck. Lena smiled, wrapping one arm Webby and pulling her closer.

“Yeah. I’m really here.”

Violet watched the two of them, trying not to feel too… well, she wasn’t sure what the emotions were. Jealousy? Maybe a little. Not that she had any romantic feelings for Lena — they were sisters. But Violet had been Lena’s only confidant for so long now, and part of her… wanted to keep that. She had gotten used to having a friend.

“You have to tell me _everything_!” Webby said happily, bouncing back. “Your dads seem _awesome_. Wait, can I call them your dads? You’re still going to let them adopt you, right? Are you still going to go to school? Are you really in therapy? What’s _that_ like? Am I allowed to ask about that? Does it help? You seem a lot happier than you used to. I mean, I guess you pretended to be happy but now you’re _happy_ happy.”

Typical Webby. Lena listened, not even sure where to start with all the things Webby wanted to know. “I… have two kittens?” was what she finally settled for meekly saying.

“What?! Pictures! Now!”

* * *

It was late. Harry and Nico had checked in a little earlier, Harry still babbling in Spanish. Nico had assured them his English would come back in the morning before bidding the girls good night.

Now, Violet and Webby were asleep, curled up on a blanket, completely peaceful. Lena was lying on her back, her hoodie tucked under her head as a pillow, her eyes fixed on the glowy stars on the ceiling overhead. Her head still hurt a bit, trying to sort out the memories of her old life and her current one. Everything was jumbled and mixed, conflicting. Happy teenager with great parents. Miserable girl being constantly, verbally abused by a voice in her shadow. School, therapy, nice warm bed every night. Stealing to live, always running, sleeping wherever she found a place…

She groaned, gripping her head and rolling over. _Come on Lena, get it together. You’re already broken. Don’t make it worse._

It was getting significantly harder to breathe. She knew a panic attack when she saw one — or when she _had_ one. She rolled over and sat up on her knees, trying to breathe evenly. Webby stirred, mumbling under her breath, and Lena gave her a terrified look before fleeing the room. She couldn’t wake them up. And the library was starting to feel claustrophobic.

She felt a little better out in the hall, leaning against the wall and managing a few deep breaths. This was a lot. Everything was a lot. It was okay to feel like this. That was what she told herself as she started toward the stairs. She wanted something to drink beside water.

There was a light on when she walked into the kitchen, and Beakley was cleaning the counter. “Jeez, crumpets, you ever sleep?” she asked as she approached the fridge and grabbed a Pep. Louie could deal.

“Ah, there’s that sarcasm we’ve all missed,” Beakley said dryly, shaking her head and finishing up with the counter. “Do _you_ ever sleep?”

“Yup,” Lena said cheerfully. “I’ve got these great drugs at home. I barely slept for like the first two weeks I was there, so Nico made me go to a doctor.”

She cracked the soda open, taking a long sip. Beakley looked her up and down for a moment. “And they’re… taking care of you?” she asked cautiously. Lena slowly lowered her soda, raising an eyebrow.

“If I didn’t know better Tea Time, I’d think you might actually care about me.”

Beakley sighed, turning to look at her fully. “You saved my granddaughter’s life,” she said quietly. “Almost at the cost of your own. I care very much for your well being, yes.”

Lena was so stunned that she didn’t have a sarcastic response. “Yeah,” she said finally, quietly. “They take care of me. More than I deserve. I mean, they want to adopt me. _Still_. Even after all of this.” She laughed. “Can you believe that?”

“Having spoken to them for five minutes, yes,” Beakley said wryly. Nico and Harry clearly had love to give. And they clearly recognized how much Lena needed it. Where Beakley had seen a troublesome teenager being a bad influence on her (mostly) innocent granddaughter, Nico and Harry Sabrewing had seen a child who’d never had someone truly love her.

“I guess they’re like super parents,” Lena admitted, the undertone of a laugh still in her voice. “They’ve dealt with so much with me and now… _this_. Magica’s still out there and she could come back again any time and she already broke the house once and she hurt Harry and they… they still want me…”

Her hands were starting to shake, and she quickly set the soda on the counter, folding her arms tight. Beakley tilted her head, frowning.

“Lena?”

“I think part of me knew I was just going to be a pain if I remembered everything and here we are.” She slumped against the wall. “But they still want me. They still want to let me in their house, in their family. Can you believe that?”

Beakley was pretty sure Lena didn’t actually expect an answer. She wasn’t sure the teenager even realized she was talking. She could only imagine how confused Lena was, trying to sort out everything. They may have been her memories, but she had been without them for almost a year. Not to mention the trauma she almost definitely had and now needed to deal with.

Lena slid down to the floor, arms still wrapped around herself. “They still want me,” she whispered again. Beakley crossed the kitchen, kneeling beside her.

“Lena.” Her voice was a little firmer. “Look at me.”

She shook her head, forehead pressed into her knees, fingers now tangled in her hair. “ _God_ what’s wrong with me?” she whispered.

“You’re dealing with a lot right now.” Beakley reached out, then paused. “May I?”

Lena tilted her head slightly to open one eye and see the gesture. She nodded before hiding again; Beakley put a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t say I know what you’re going through, because I don’t. I doubt there’s anyone in the world who can relate to you.”

The teen choked on a laugh. “Sounds right. Uniquely screwed up.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is traumatized.”

“You sound like my therapist.” Lena made a noise that was almost a giggle. “I have a _therapist_. That’s ridiculous.”

Actually, it sounded pretty reasonable. It sounded like she _needed_ a therapist. Particularly right then. “Lena? Will you look at me, please?” It took a moment, but finally Lena wiped her eyes and lifted her head. “I don’t know what you’re going through. But I know you’ve been through a lot. And it’s okay to feel that. It’s okay to feel. Nobody is going to think you’re too much or abandon you. I promise.”

Lena met Beakley’s gaze, and nodded slowly. It was only a moment before her expression crumpled again, and she curled back into herself, crying quietly. Beakley took a chance, reaching an arm around Lena to pull her into a tight hug. She relaxed slightly in the older woman’s arms, much to Beakley’s surprise. She rubbed the girl’s back, holding her until she cried herself out and eventually fell asleep. Beakley gently scooped her up to carry her back to bed.

She really hoped that therapist knew what she was doing.

Webby stirred slightly when Beakley set Lena on the blanket next to her and went to cover the girls up. Her granddaughter’s eyes just barely opened, enough to see Lena, and she scooted closer, curling into the older girl. There was a smile on her beak as she fell back to sleep.

* * *

“I’m sure Mateo and I can take care of it—”

“That’s what you said about the kitchen window and it still doesn’t open right.”

“The window opens _fine_. You’re dramatic.”

“ _I’m_ dramatic? _I’m dramatic_? Hernaldo, lo juro—”

Lena yawned as she made her way into the dining room, raising an eyebrow. “What are they arguing about _now_?”

“Getting the front door fixed,” Violet said. She was sitting with Webby, Huey, and Dewey, who were watching in fascination.

“So… this is normal?”

“Absolutely,” Violet said. Lena collapsed into the chair next to her, grabbing the box of cereal.

“It’s more worrying if they _aren’t_ sniping at each other in Spanish.”

“Insultar a mi hermano—”

“¡Se noqueó con su propio martillo!”

Lena choked on the spoon of cereal she had just stuck in her mouth, trying not to laugh. “Knocked himself out with his own hammer?”

“Uncle Mateo is great, but his coordination and aim aren’t the best.”

Della tilted her head as she walked into the dining room. “Are they…?”

“It’s fine.”

“They’re fine.”

Violet and Lena spoke at the same time. Webby smothered a laugh. “So what’s going on?”

“Well, Aunt Magica blew in the front door,” Lena grumbled, swirling her spoon around her bowl.

“And they’re trying to figure out if it’s worth hiring someone to do it or if they should do it themselves,” Violet finished. “By which I mean Papi thinks he and his brother can fix it, and Papá remembers the last time they tried to fix something.”

“Oh, you need someone to fix something?” Della brightened up, getting Nico’s and Harry’s attention. “Ask my brother, the weirdo who lives on the boat in the pool.” She waved a hand at the window. “He’s _really_ good at building and fixing things. He built the whole boat by himself. And it’s only sunk twice!”

“One of those times was Dewey’s fault,” Huey added, jerking a thumb at his brother.

“Hey, I didn’t _sink_ it. I blew it up. Way different.”

Nico was beaming, victorious, while Harry mumbled a sullen, “ _Fine_ ,” under his breath. Lena rolled her eyes and tugged her hood up over her head.

“Too bright?” Violet guessed. “Where are your sunglasses?”

“In my bag. Which I think is still in Harry’s car.”

“Oh good, the one that didn’t get blown up.”

Della brought Nico and Harry outside to meet Donald, leaving the kids alone to finish their breakfast. “So do you really remember everything?” Dewey asked as soon as the adults were gone. He yelped when Huey kick him.

“Yeah, more or less.” Lena scrubbed her eyes. “Everything’s a little muddled — like after you wake up from a dream and it takes you a minute to remember what’s real.”

“But it’s all real.”

“Which is making it harder.”

Webby watched her for a moment before pushing back from the table and jumping off her chair. She hugged Lena tight, pressing into her side. Lena smiled weakly, wrapping an arm around Webby in return.

“I’m good, Pink. Don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?” Webby looked up at her, frowning.

“Yeah. Absolutely sure.”

“Oh, you have an appointment with Dr. Lorikeet today,” Violet said, gathering her dirty dishes up.

“Wait, _what_?” Lena’s head snapped up. “Since when?”

“Since Papi and Papá called her to see if she could squeeze you in today. I’m sure they would have told you if they hadn’t been arguing about the door when you came in.”

Lena sighed, covering her face. She didn’t want to talk to Dr. Lorikeet, or anyone really. But she knew better than to argue.


	16. Lena Care 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena's not okay. And it's okay to show that.

Dr. Lorikeet was usually really good at keeping straight face. Lena had always given her credit for it, especially considering some of the stranger things Lena had said. She had finally found a limit, though.

“So… you… remember everything?”

“Yup.” Lena popped the p, juggling the fidget cube in her head. “Too bad I didn’t listen to Violet about that stupid amulet. Could’ve saved months of all this drama.”

“Mmhm.” Dr. Lorikeet took a few notes. “And how’re you feeling about all of this?”

Lena laughed. It was a strange sound. “I don’t know. I seriously don’t know. One minute I think I’m fine, the next I want to lock myself in a closet and cry. I had a break down in the kitchen last night and Abbey Road had to carry me back to bed—”

“Who?”

“Oh — Webby’s grandmother. Beakley.” Lena rubbed her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “She’s insanely British. And I liked winding her up. Like? I don’t know. It’s so engrained that I called her Tea Time five seconds after I met her. I mean, when I didn’t know who she was. Before.” Lena was quiet for a moment before suddenly shooting up with an aggravated noise. “God! I don’t even know how to talk about anything!”

Purple-pink energy encased a potted plant, blowing it up. Lena jumped away, eyes wide. “Um… that’s new. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Not the first potted plant victim in this office, honestly.” Dr. Lorikeet gave her a small smile. “That’ll be the magic you were talking about, then?”

“Yeah.” Lena sighed, sagging. She didn’t sit, though; instead she began pacing the office, rocking nervously on her heels. “Everything is a mess. I can’t think. It seemed so simple yesterday when I was fighting Magica. But now everyone is asking questions, and my head hurts, and I can’t _think_.”

Dr. Lorikeet watched Lena pace, and understood why Nico and Harry had begged her to make room in her schedule. Lena was definitely not okay.

“I didn’t think it would be this bad,” Lena said, stopping and staring into nothing. “I knew somewhere deep down that I didn’t want to know the truth. I knew it would be bad. But I didn’t think it would be like… _this_. These are _my_ memories. Why is everything so hard?”

“Well,” Dr. Lorikeet said slowly, “I can only make guesses, but I suppose it could be overwhelming to remember fifteen years of your life all at once. Our minds are only equipped to handle so much information at a time. It’s a type of sensory overload. Have you taken any time to just sit down and think?”

“I — no, of course not, I had to fight Magica, and then everyone had questions, and then there were _more_ questions, and I had to sleep eventually, and then this morning, and now I’m here—”

“Lena.” Dr. Lorikeet’s voice was firm. Lena turned to the doctor. Her hands were shaking again. “Sit down.”

Lena hesitated before obeying, sitting again. “Good.” Dr. Lorikeet stood and closed the curtains on the window. “Close your eyes.” She closed her eyes. “Take a deep breath and count to five, then exhale and count backwards from five.” Lena did as she was told. It was shaky, but she managed. “Good. Keep going. Focus on your breathing.”

It took a few minutes, but Lena’s breathing slowly evened out, and she stopped shaking. “Better?” Dr. Lorikeet asked after nearly five minutes of silence. Lena opened her eyes, and nodded. “Do you still have your xanax and sleeping pills?” Another nod. “Okay. I’m going to schedule you for another appointment in three days. In the mean time, go home. Get some sleep. Don’t be ashamed to take the xanax as needed. Take time to process on your own. You don’t have to talk to your fathers, or to Violet, or to Webby. Don’t feel bad if you need to close your door and separate yourself. Tell them you need time. They’ll understand.”

“What if they don’t?” Lena whispered. “What if they get mad?”

“They won’t,” Dr. Lorikeet assured her. “You need to take care of yourself, especially now. None of this is going to be easy. If they love you — and they do — they’ll understand.”

Lena nodded, scrubbing her eyes. “Okay. Yeah. You’re right. Okay. Thanks, Doc.”

Dr. Lorikeet smiled. “Nothing to thank me for. Let’s get you scheduled. I’m… guessing you won’t be going to school for a while.”

“Yeah… probably not.”

* * *

Harry and Nico were sitting outside, watching Donald work and trying to nod along as the duck spoke. Nico leaned over to his husband to whisper, “¿Puedes entenderlo?”

Harry shook his head slowly. “Ni una palabra.”

They were both distracted by Lena making her way up the driveway. Her eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses, but everything about her screamed exhaustion. “You’re back early,” Nico said, straightening up.

“Dr. Lorikeet let me go. I have another appointment in three days. She told me to just take time and get some sleep. Do you know where the xanax is?”

“Yes, but you’re not mixing that with your sleeping pills.”

“No, just… in case.” Lena finally pushed her glasses up to rest on top of her head, and they got a good look at her eyes. She had been crying, and the exhaustion was even more obvious. “Is Webby still here?”

“I think she’s upstairs with Violet.” Nico held an arm out, and Lena shuffled forward, letting him hug her tight. “Get some rest. Let us know if you need anything. We’ll wake you up for dinner.”

Lena smiled weakly, closing her eyes and nodding. She protested half-heartedly when Harry ruffled her hair. “Hey—”

“Go on, pajarito rosa. Sleep well.”

Webby was stunned, staring at Violet’s collection of magic books. “This is _amazing_.”

“You can see why I’ve wanted a study buddy.”

“Are you two being nerds?” They turned to see Lena leaning against the doorframe, watching them with a raised eyebrow.

“We’re going over my collection of magic books. I don’t suppose you’d be more willing to help me now?”

“Ask me after I’ve slept like fourteen hours. Which I’m about to go start.”

“Are you okay?” Webby asked, twisting her hands together. Lena smiled tiredly.

“Yeah, Pink. I’m good, really. I just really need to sleep.”

“You haven’t been sleeping well even with your meds,” Violet said slowly. “And you didn’t have them at all last night.”

“Which means they should work _great_ now.” She straightened up, yawning and stretching. “I just wanted to say hi and good night. Sorry, I’m not much fun right now.”

“Do you want company?” Webby asked without thinking.

“Company to sleep?”

“You’ve always slept better with someone else in the room,” Violet pointed out. “We can work on my laptop and you can sleep. Maybe it’ll help.”

Lena shrugged. “Whatever you want to do. I’m going to get my meds.”

Violet gathered up her laptop and a few blankets. “Are you sure it’s okay?” Webby whispered to Violet. She had never seen Lena like this.

“When Lena first got here, she had _really_ terrible nightmares. I slept on her floor sometimes and it seemed to help.”

They walked across the hall, letting themselves into Lena’s room. Violet flicked on the lava lamp, then checked the bed, rearranging one of the blankets. “Heavy blanket,” she explained to Webby. “They’re good for anxiety. And the lava lamp is just soothing for some reason.”

“Oh. Right.” She knew so much about taking care of Lena. How was Webby supposed to keep up?

They were just finishing their blanket nest when Lena made her way into the bedroom, tossing her sweatshirt over her desk chair and dropping onto the bed with a groan. “That was fast,” Violet commented. “Don’t they usually take twenty minutes?”

“I’m so tired,” Lena muttered as she wiggled under the covers. Tension seemed to drain from her body.

“Get some sleep, then. We’ll be here if you need anything.”

Webby highly doubted Lena heard the end of Violet’s sentence. “How do you do that?” she asked quietly as soon as she was sure Lena was good and out.

“Do… what?”

“Take care of her. You just… walked in here and knew everything to do. Fix the heavy blanket, turn on the lava lamp… you _know_ her.”

“Well we’ve lived together for nearly a year now. I’ve had a lot of time to practice.”

“I want to know how to help her too.” Webby bounced up and down nervously. “Please. Just a few tips?”

Violet looked between her sister and Webby, and nodded. “I suppose a quick Lena 101 care guide wouldn’t go amiss…”

They settled in, ready to spend all night there if they had to. Two kittens came out from under the bed after nearly ten minutes, inspecting the newcomers. “Oh, that’s Rings and Tux,” Violet said, pointing to each as said their names. Tux meowed and nibbled on Webby’s finger. She giggled. “I’m glad they didn’t run away. She’s quite fond of them.”

Rings mewled, trying to climb up onto the bed. Violet gently scooped her and put her next to Lena. “She’s a little clingier to Lena than Tux is. He likes to explore. They’re both mostly still contained to here, but Tux is getting out more.”

“They’re so cute.” Webby scritched Tux’s head. Rings had curled up next to Lena’s head, and was sleeping just as peacefully as her owner. “So… you said she has nightmares?”

“Yes. They’ve been getting better, although something tells me they’re going to get worse now.” Violet looked at Lena, sighing. “The sleeping pills help. Maybe having her memories will help too. One less thing to worry about at night.”

“I hope so.”

It felt weird, sitting there while Lena slept, but they didn’t seem to disturb her at all. She was completely out. “Does anything you do help?”

“Talking to her keeps her grounded. Try not to touch her until she’s more aware of what’s going on. She almost punched Papi once. Not his fault, he thought he had her attention and she panicked.”

“No touch. Got it.” That was going to be hard, but Webby could restrain herself for Lena’s sake. “What… was she like? Before all of this? Like before we met on the beach and everything?”

“She was… quiet. Not just in the regular sense — I could always tell when she was thinking too hard about something. She was very withdrawn at first. Even when she started opening up, she wasn’t talking about everything she was thinking. I think that’s why Papi and Papá wanted her to start therapy. They’re very respective of our privacy, but they were worried about her. And it helped her deal with the amnesia. She was happy, I think. She seemed happy. She kept saying she didn’t want to remember, she was happy with the way things were. And I believed her, but… I’m not sure she ever believed herself.”

“Do you… think she regrets taking the amulet now?”

“I don’t know.” Violet looked at Lena, then at Webby. “I don’t know her now.”

“I guess I don’t either.” It was weird to think about it. Webby knew everything she _needed_ to know about Lena from that one act of sacrificing her life to save her and Dewey. But she didn’t know anything about Lena, not really. How could she care so much about someone she didn’t _know_?

“Perhaps now we can both get to know who she really is.”

Webby lightened up a little at the thought. “I’d like that.”

Maybe now she could really get to know Lena, without the weight of Magica and Magica’s secrets on her shoulders. Maybe Lena could finally be herself. She could stop hiding under the facade of sarcasm and trying to push people away. Maybe she could be…

Webby blushed slightly, ducking her head and shaking it slightly. “Anyways. Heavy blanket?”

“Yes, they’re good for anxiety. That one she has is actually one of mine. I gave it to her after her first nightmare.” Violet reached out and held up the corner for Webby to take. It was surprisingly hefty. “That’s the heavier one. It’s twenty pounds.”

“ _Really_? That seemed like a lot for a blanket.”

“Mmhm. It was a bit too heavy for me, but it seems perfect for her.”

Twenty-pound blanket. Webby made a mental note. She watched as Lena stirred slightly, rolling onto her side and letting out a long breath. She was so relaxed. Almost at peace.

Webby wanted to see that expression all the time.

* * *

Lena didn’t wake up for dinner. Harry did his best to get her out of bed, but she vaguely mumbled something about macaroni, rolled over, and fell asleep.

“I’ll save her some,” he said with a smile as he re-entered the kitchen. “Webby, can you ask Donald if he’d like to join us?”

“Why can’t you ask?” Violet asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We… can’t understand him.”

Webby giggled. “It takes some practice and guessing. Mostly guessing.”

She went to get Donald while Violet finished setting the table. “Has Lena talked to you about anything?” Nico asked, setting the pot of stew in the middle of the table.

“Not really. I’m not sure she can, though.”

“She does seem a bit… frazzled.”

“She’ll be okay.” Violet was confident of that. Lena had already survived so much.

She could survive this too.


	17. Finding Even Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena tries to figure out her place in the Sabrewing home. Webby wants to help but doesn't want to be overwhelming. Which is hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a lot of you have been noticing the number of chapters left and how it keeps changing.... that's because I started with a prologue but it counts as chapter 1 so all of my chapter numbers have been thrown off ^_^;; teach me to be fancy. The finally chapter count is 20 - 18 chapters, 1 prologue, 1 epilogue.

The next few days were a little hectic.

Lena was doing her best, but her head was still spinning, and everything felt like too much. She ended up spending a lot of time in her room catching up on what felt like fifteen years of missed sleep.

Webby was doing her best to stay out of the way. She didn’t want to be overwhelming, but she also didn’t want to leave Lena. Donald had to go back the next day to finish the door, so Webby joined him, and enjoyed some quiet time with Lena and Violet in Lena’s room with the curtains closed and the lava lamp on. Every now and then Lena would ask a question and Webby would do her best to answer. She wanted to go over on the second day, but Lena needed time with her family. She couldn’t keep getting in the way. Violet had assured her that Lena was okay and had even spent some time cooking with Harry.

 _I’ll just stay for a little while_ , she resolved as she made her way down the street. It was a little bit after noon, which was a perfect time to visit — she could stay for a couple hours then say she needed to go home for dinner. She wouldn’t be too overwhelming or anything.

She was on the doorstep and about to ring the bell when the door opened. Lena’s eyes were on her phone; she nearly ran straight into Webby.

“Oh! Hey, Webs, what’s up?”

There was something in her voice — something that had been _missing_ before, that made Webby’s heart swell, and she had to struggle not to smile too much.

“I was just coming to visit — but you’re going somewhere, I should leave, sorry—”

“No, it’s cool.” Lena shut the door and tugged out her earbuds, wrapping them around her phone. “I’ve just got an appointment with Dr. Lorikeet. Wanna walk with me?”

“Sure!”

And down the street they went, Lena tucking her phone back into her pocket. She was looking around nervously, a wariness in her gaze she hadn’t had before. Before she had known how dangerous the world really was. Webby tried not to think too much about that.

Webby tried to shake that thought off. “How’re you doing?”

“Eh… better.” Lena shrugged. “Memories are starting to make sense again, so that’s nice. As nice as anything can be with Magica.”

Webby wrung her hands together, debating. She had so many questions, so much she wanted to know now that Lena remembered…

“You wanna ask questions, don’t you?”

“What?” Webby jumped, looking up at Lena. “I, uh — wait how did you know that? Are you telepathic? _Can you read my mind?!_ ”

Lena laughed. “No, I just know you. You’re not that subtle.”

“Oh.” That was fair, Webby supposed. “Yeah, I… have a lot of questions,” she admitted. “But I know you’re still trying to sort things out.”

“Yeah. But you deserve answers, too.” Lena ran a hand through her hair, sighing. “I wasn’t ever really… honest with you.”

“I read some of your journal,” Webby said, blushing. “The poem, anyways.”

Lena cringed. “Is… that all you read?”

“Yes?” Webby tilted her head, confused. “Why?”

“No reason,” Lena said quickly, looking away. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way. I tried to tell you. After the other bin. I wanted to tell you. But Magica figured out a way to possess me and I…” Her voice drifted off, and she shuddered. “I’m sorry. If I had just said something sooner…”

“Why didn’t you?” Webby didn’t mean to ask, but the question slipped.

“I was scared. Magica had convinced me that you would all hate me and she was the only one who understood me and all that crap. And she promised she’d free me if I just helped her get her body back.” Lena shook her head. “I knew better. But I hoped maybe…”

Webby took Lena’s hand as her voice drifted off. Lena gave her a small smile. “You see how well that turned out.”

“You have a real family now, though. And you’re free from Magica.”

Lena laughed. “Yeah, I guess I am. She probably won’t try to come back any time soon after that mess.”

“And even if she does, she has to fight all of us to get to you,” Webby added fiercely. “Not that you need our protection…”

“It’s nice to have, though.”

They’d made it downtown by this point; Lena stopped in front of a brick building, hopping up the three steps and pulling the door open. “Should I go now?” Webby asked uncertainly. Lena stopped, looking back.

“If you want to, sure… you probably don’t want to sit around and wait for me, huh?”

If she only knew. “I don’t mind. Maybe we can get lunch after, too?”

That got Webby a rare, true Lena smile. “Yeah. Come on.”

They rode the elevator up to the fourth floor, walked down an eerily silent hallway, and Lena opened the door to the waiting room. “Guess I’m early,” she said, checking her phone. “I usually run into her in the hall.”

They took seats near the window, Webby bouncing anxiously. “So do you just… talk about stuff? Am I allowed to ask that?”

“Yes, and yes.” Lena nudged Webby’s knee, smiling slightly. “Since when do you ask for permission to ask questions?”

“Oh, I just… I don’t wanna, you know, ask you anything you don’t want to answer…”

“If I don’t want to answer, I won’t answer. C’mon, Webby, you know me—” Lena cut off mid sentence, grimacing. “Kind of, I mean. I’m the same person I was when Magica was in my shadow. I just… don’t have her forcing me to keep secrets anymore.”

“Did you really want to be my friend?” Webby asked quietly. Lena shrugged, suddenly very interested in whatever was outside the window.

“I didn’t… really have an opinion. I mean, you were weird, but in a cool way. I figured if I had a job to do, I might as well have some fun. It wasn’t like any of it mattered. You were going to find out one way or another about Magica, and then you’d hate me anyway, so… it didn’t matter.”

Webby tried not to be too hurt. Lena had more than proven herself, but thinking the early days of their friendship were a lie…

“What changed, then?”

“Huh?” Lena looked back at her, blinking.

“You said it didn’t matter, but then you betrayed Magica and helped us. What changed?”

“I…”

The door opened before Lena could answer; both girls quickly jumped up to face the surprised woman who had walked in.

“You were early today.”

“Yeah, well…” Lena shrugged. “Webby walks fast, can’t really drag my feet if I want to keep up with her.”

Dr. Lorikeet’s eyes flitted to Webby, who smiled and waved sheepishly. “Hi. I’m Webby.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” The doctor smiled. “Are you joining us today?”

“Oh! Um… no I just walked here.”

“Can she?” Lena spoke up. “If you want to,” she added, shoving her hands into her pockets. “I don’t mind.”

“As long as you’ll still talk freely. Or as freely as you ever do with me.”

Lena smiled wryly. “I’ve always thought I was an open book with you.”

“You look away and change the subject when I try to ask you about something too personal. It’s a very obvious tell.”

Webby giggled. Lena shot her a mock glare. “Okay. C’mon, Pink.”

They settled in Dr. Lorikeet’s office, Webby taking the extra seat in the corner. Lena flopped into her normal seat, hands buried in her sweatshirt pocket. “How’re you feeling?” Dr. Lorikeet asked as she closed the door and sat as well.

“Well rested? I’ve gotten a _lot_ of sleep the last few days.”

“You did one thing I told you to do, then. Have you been taking care of yourself when you’re awake?”

“Yeah.” Lena scrubbed her eyes. “I’m trying. Needed some xanax yesterday, but I was in the kitchen with Harry. That’s a pretty reasonable reaction if you ask me.”

Dr. Lorikeet chuckled. “As long as you were aware enough to ask for it.”

Lena nodded. “Yeah. And things are getting a little easier to deal with. I think I’ve got most of the memories sorted out.”

“Mmhm. And have you started dealing any of that yet?”

“Uh… I mean, it’s only been a few days…”

Webby liked Dr. Lorikeet, she decided as she watched the doctor. She was pushing Lena, but not in a way that was overwhelming. And Lena didn’t seem to mind. “Is there anything in particular that’s standing out to you right now?”

Lena frowned for a moment, trying to think. “Kind of? But it’s weird and I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Give it a try and I’ll see if I can understand.”

“Fine…” Lena slumped back in her seat. “Magica couldn’t talk out loud for a long time — ya know, she was weak from the battle, took time to recover her energy and all that. Before she could talk out loud, though, she could talk in my head. Not read my thoughts or anything, I could just hear what she was saying. Anyway, she used to yell at me a lot. I could never do anything right. I had to get from Italy to Duckburg somehow, and she was always mad I could never come up with a good plan. Which wasn’t exactly what I was _made_ for by the way, she was the one who said I was supposed to follow orders and not think…”

Her voice drifted off into a mumbled as she glared at the wall out of the corner of her eye. “The point is, she used to yell a lot. And as she got stronger, she started talking and yelling out-loud, and then she could take control of my body, and then…” Lena waved a hand. “You know, the rest of the sad story. And I’ve been living with the Sabrewings for months, now. I know Harry and Nico. They don’t yell. Not at me or Violet, or even at each other. I mean, they argue, but it’s always over stupid things. I’m sure they have real arguments, but not in front of us. I _know_ they would never yell at me, but…” She paused, and sighed. “I just got so overwhelmed last night. Harry is just… so naturally loud and full of energy. Seems to be a type I’m drawn to.”

She added that last part with a look in Webby’s direction, and Webby giggled. “And I was happy, it’s fun watching him work. But everything started tunneling out and…”

“Panic attack.”

Lena nodded. “I was _really_ hoping I was over those after that first night Colonel Crumpet—”

“Wait, what happened?” Webby blurted out without thinking. “Sorry,” she said immediately, ducking her head. Dr. Lorikeet was looking back through her notes.

“That would be Beakley, yes?”

“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep, went down to the kitchen to get a drink and ran into her, had a small meltdown.” She summarized for Webby’s sake. “I figured it was just, ya know, it’d been less than twelve hours, I was still trying to figure things out, the last nine months still felt like a dream, but things would get better once I’d had a chance to sleep and think.”

“And that’s not what’s happening.” It wasn’t really a question. The doctor knew the answer.

“Not really. So I was freaking out in the kitchen — common theme there, maybe I should just stay out of kitchens — and in the back of my head I was like… _waiting_ for someone to yell at me for being an inconvenience or not keeping it together. And that’s _not_ what happened, because Harry and Nico are reasonable people, and I _know_ that. They didn’t even yell at me when I broke curfew.”

“But you were still scared.”

“Yeah, and I shouldn’t be!” Lena threw her hands up, exasperated. “I know they’re nothing to be afraid of, they couldn’t — I guess I can’t say they’d never hurt anyone, Harry had a knife when Magica broke into the house, and then he hit her with an umbrella. But I know they’d never hurt _me_. How could I even think that?”

“Well…” Dr. Lorikeet tapped her pen against her notepad. “I have a thought, but you may not like it.”

“When’s that ever stopped you?”

“Fair enough. You spent a lot of time with Magica, against your will, being verbally abused by her. More than enough time for the abuse to become normal in your view. It’s not uncommon for abused children to start expecting that abuse everywhere they go.”

“But I _know_ they won’t hurt me! I’ve been living with them for months!”

“It can take a long time to unlearn certain things. And you haven’t actually had time to learn that the entire world isn’t against you because you didn’t remember ever thinking that. As far as your mind is concerned, everything that happened nine months ago might as well have been yesterday.”

“So basically I’m right back at where I started.”

“Not completely. You’re consciously aware that Nico and Harry won’t hurt you. That’s a good headstart to have.”

Lena took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair. “Right. Okay. So I just have to deal with it?”

“Well, no. You have the conscious knowledge. It’s possible to learn it subconsciously as well. It just takes time and patience.”

“Where’ve I heard that before?” Lena muttered sullenly. “Time and patience, time and patience. Is that all I can do?”

“Talking about it also helps,” Dr. Lorikeet pointed out. “Outside of therapy, I mean. Talking to Nico and Harry. Or Violet. Or Webby.” The therapist nodded to Webby, who straightened up. “Something tells me talking isn’t something you did much of before.”

“Yeah, no.” Lena sighed. “But I’ve gotten used to it.”

“I won’t lie, this part is a little outside of my expertise. You have nine months of learning healthy coping habits and how to be safe, and you have to find a way to reconcile those experiences with your memories and your old life. I’m not entirely sure how to go about that.”

“At least you’re honest about it.” Lena straightened up. “So what, am I done with therapy?”

“Only if you want to be. Having a neutral third party to talk with is always helpful. Even if I can’t help you directly, I can listen and offer suggestions. And talking can help untangle a lot of thoughts.”

Lena took a deep breath, nodding. “Okay. Okay. I guess it couldn’t hurt to keep talking.”

“Try talking outside of therapy as well. Even if it’s just something small. Tell Nico and Harry what you told me, about being afraid.”

“It’ll just upset them.”

“It’ll also make them aware of what the problem is — it isn’t just that you’re overwhelmed, it’s that you’re _scared_. That knowledge can change how they try to help you.” Dr. Lorikeet flipped through her notepad, tearing out a clean piece of paper. “Now. Homework time.”

“Seriously?” Lena groaned. “I thought I was done with this.”

“We’re addressing new problems now.”

“You get homework in therapy?” Webby couldn’t resist asking.

“It’s not mandatory. More of a highly suggested to do list.” Dr. Lorikeet handed the paper and a pen to Lena. “Choose two to four people you trust, and one topic you feel comfortable addressing with them.”

Lena leaned forward, setting the paper down on the table and taking the pen. “Do Harry and Nico count as one person or two?”

“Depends on what you want to talk about. Given what I know about them, Nico seems to be the one you would go to for logic to fight your fears while Harry offers comfort. You could kill two birds with one stone in that way.”

Lena nodded, scribbling away for a moment. She stopped for another moment, tapping the pen. Then another few moments of writing, and she handed the pen back, folding the paper up and sticking it in her pocket. “That was a surprisingly productive session,” Dr. Lorikeet said, pleased. “We’ve still got a few minutes, though, so… Webby?”

“Huh?” Webby straightened up again.

“As I recall, you knew Lena for a while before the Shadow War. Long enough for her to integrate into your family and get comfortable enough to call your grandmother various English stereotype nicknames.”

Lena ducked her head to hide a smirk. “Yeah. I think Granny kind of understands that it’s just how Lena is. She pretends to be annoyed but I think she secretly likes it.”

“And that is exactly the kind of information that will be helpful going forward. You have a point of view of Lena’s life that she doesn’t have — you saw her as a normal teenager, and your best friend. Reminding Lena of those things would be good for her, I think.”

Webby beamed. “I can _definitely_ do that.”

“I have no doubt. Now, Lena. Same time next week?”

“Do I have a choice?” Lena’s voice was dry. No matter what she said, Webby could tell this was something that really helped her.

Good. She needed that.


	18. Settling The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena takes steps to deal with the past and put it behind her for real.

_“But there's still tomorrow, forget the sorrow, and I can be on the last train home…_ ”

Lena rolled over to grab her phone, flipping through her playlist to find a different song. She usually enjoyed the playlist, but it might have been time for something else.

“ _I don't like my mind right now, stacking up problems that are so unnecessary. Wish that I could slow things down, I wanna let go but there's comfort in the panic…_ ”

“Lena? Can you come here for a minute?”

Lena sighed, tugging out her earbuds. She froze halfway down the stairs when she saw Sun standing at the bottom of the stairs with Harry. “Um… hi?” All the fears of Nico and Harry giving up on her and giving her back came rush forward. Maybe now it wouldn’t be so bad. She could always just live at manor. She didn’t even have to ask, there were so many empty rooms, she could hide there for months without anyone knowing…

“I’m not here to take you away,” Sun assured her gently. Lena let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

“Oh, right. I mean, yeah, of course. I knew that.”

They settled down in the living room. “I hear there’s been some progress with your memories.” Ugh, right. Dr. Lorikeet had to report things like that. She was still technically a ward of the state.

“Um… what details?”

“Dr. Lorikeet isn’t allowed to disclose details. All she said was there was progress.”

Lena looked to Harry and Nico, who exchanged looks of their own. None of them had thought about what to say to Sun. “Yeah,” Lena finally said. “Sad story. No parents, terrible aunt. No clue where she is now.”

It was mostly the truth. Just leaving out the magical stuff. “And how did you end up in Duckburg?”

“I uh… I don’t remember. Guess she just took advantage of the Shadow War and tossed me out in the chaos. Maybe I got hurt during that.” Again, sort of the truth. Magica _had_ ditched her during the Shadow War.

Sun raised an eyebrow, looking to Nico and Harry, who shrugged as if to say, _Sounds right to us_.

“And I suppose there’s no way of getting in touch with this aunt.”

“Uh… probably not, no.”

“Well then.” Sun pulled out a notebook, scribbling down a few notes. “I suppose we’ll just have to file that you don’t have a guardian. That should be the last of the obstacles for your adoption.”

Lena immediately lightened up. Harry and Nico both tackled her from behind and hugged her tight. Sun smiled, standing. “Next time you see me should be in court for the paper signing. Unless someone bothers to invite me over for dinner at some point.”

“You always say you’re busy,” Harry grumbled.

“Try more often.” Sun smiled teasingly. “I’ll see myself out.”

Lena tried not to laugh as Nico and Harry hugged her again. “Hi Sun, bye Sun,” Violet said as she stepped in passed the social worker. “I assume the hugging means adoption is going forward.”

“Yeah. Thankfully she didn’t push too hard to get Aunt Magica’s approval for me to get adopted.” Lena sighed, allowing herself a small smile. “Lena Sabrewing has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

“It certainly does,” Harry said happily. “I’m going to get started on dinner.”

Lena went upstairs with Violet to grab her phone, put her earbuds back in to start her music again, and text Webby the good news. For the first time in a very long time, she felt hopeful. Content. “Lena Sabrewing.” She repeated the name, smiling stupidly. Way better than Lena de Spell, she decided, closing her eyes. She sat up after a moment, looking at the journal on her desk. The one she had kept during her time with Magica. The painful retellings of fifteen years of torture and pain.

Her phone went off. Webby’s message was a bunch of random letters and emojis, and Lena laughed. She loved that girl.

Wait. Had she really just thought that?

“ _I keep dragging around what's bringing me down, if I just let go, I'd be set free…_ ”

She shook her head, grabbing her phone to text, _What are you guys doing on Saturday?_

* * *

Lena and Violet arrived first at the theater. Lena hadn’t told anyone what was going on, but that didn’t seem to matter too much. Webby and the boys still showed up a few minutes later.

“So what’s up?” Webby asked cheerfully. Lena responded by stepping on the panel to open the secret hatch, and dropped the plastic bag she was holding. It landed with a heavy _thud_.

“We’re erasing Lena de Spell.”

“Uh…”

The rest of the kids exchanged looks as Lena started down the stairs, flipping on the light. “You wanna elaborate on that, maybe?” Huey asked cautiously. Lena stopped in the middle of the room and spun on her heel to look at them.

“Look at this place. It’s depressing. It’s like a tomb or something. There’s no point in leaving it like this. I mean, we can leave the bed, someone else might use it someday, who knows. But the posters, the dead plant, all that crap? There’s no reason to keep any of it. It’s just a reminder of how miserable my life was.”

Webby caught on before the others. She didn’t want reminders of her life with Magica just hanging around. That was understandable.

“Let’s get to work, then.”

Louie lost the coin toss and got stuck trying to scrape the posters off the wall. “Jesus, Lena, did you put these up with super glue?”

“Water damage. Sorry.”

“Are you?”

Lena shrugged, gathering up the clothes on her bed. “Forgot I had these. Maybe I’ll donate them.”

“Why do you have so many bones?” Huey asked, lifting up the arm bone holding incense.

“Aesthetic.”

“Why the blue light?”

Lena stopped and gestured around. “What don’t you see?”

Everyone looked, bewildered. “Um…”

“Shadows. They don’t cast as well in blue light. All I had to do was flip a switch and I could have a break from Aunt Magica. Besides, it’s cool.”

“How did you get a desk down here?”

“It was here when I moved in. I think it’s left over from when they still had shows. Same with the bones. All props.”

“What’s with all the glass and stuff on the floor?”

“Oh, right. Aunt Magica brought me here to make me tell her where the amulet was. I threw a few things at her.”

It took a surprisingly long time to clean out the little hole Lena had called home. By the end of it they had a small pile of clothes to donate and a pile of trash — the dead plant, the old books that were falling apart anyways, the bits and pieces of the posters. The room had been cleaned to the best of their abilities, the bed made, the desk straightened out. There was nothing they could really do about Lena’s intricate drawing on the wall. It could just be entertainment for the next person who called this place home.

“Vi, can you grab the clothes going to donation?”

“Sure.”

Violet scooped up the clothes, and Lena gathered up the trash. They started back upstairs, stopping to grab the bag Lena had brought with her. “What are we doing?” Webby asked curiously.

“Going to the beach.”

Everyone exchanged looks, shrugging, and following Lena out onto the beach. She knelt down, arranging the trash in a pile, then pulled her journal out of the bag.

“Lena…?”

She set the book on top of the trash pile, pulled a lighter out of her pocket, and flicked it on. She set fire to a piece of paper, and, with a snap of her fingers, the fire roared to life.

“Whoa!”

“Lena, what’re you—”

Webby and Violet hushed the boys. Lena stood, stepping back. “Does that help?” Violet asked curiously.

“Yeah. Just because I have a past, doesn’t mean I have to live in it. The theater, my journal, it’s all just a reminder. I don’t need it. I’ve got a new home, adults who actually care about me, I’ve even got a new journal. I don’t need these things anymore.”

Webby stepped up to stand beside Lena, nudging her gently. “Nope. You’ve got so much more to look forward to.”

Lena looked down at her, smiling, and wrapping an arm around Webby’s shoulders and tugging her in. Violet raised an eyebrow, looking at the boys as if to ask, _do they really not know?_

Huey and Louie shrugged; Dewey didn’t notice.

* * *

Tux was bouncing around on the bed, attacking little enemies only he could see, while his sister rested on Lena’s chest. Lena was holding a piece of paper over her head — her “homework” from Dr. Lorikeet.

_Talk to someone._

Yeah, right. _No one_ , literally _no one_ , could understand what she was going through. Violet would ask questions though, and try to understand. So would Webby. And she loved them both for that. But she didn’t want to answer questions. She wanted to explain things on her terms. In her own time. Slowly.

Which probably only meant gave her one option.

Nico was lying on the couch, head in Harry’s lap. They were watching TV and enjoying the _quiet_ time they finally had. It had been a long week.

“Hmmmm.”

Harry looked down at his husband, raising an eyebrow. “Something wrong?”

“I think my drink’s too far away…”

He made a show of reaching out, his fingers just barely brushing the glass. “You could _move_ a little.”

“I’m too comfortable.” He sighed, letting his arm fall to his side.

“Alas. You’ll just have to go without.”

“A true shame.”

Harry rolled his eyes, leaning in to kiss Nico. Everyone said _he_ was the dramatic one in the relationship, but Nico certainly had his moments as well.

“Um… am I interrupting?”

Harry looked over his shoulder and Nico sat up, surprised to see Lena hovering uncertainly in the living room door. “Not at all, pajarito rosa,” Harry assured her, waving her in.

“I thought you went to bed,” Nico added, tilting his head. Lena hadn’t gone back to school yet — she was being unsurprisingly resistant to it now that she remembered going fifteen years without it — but she had been sticking with her usual routine.

“I did, but I couldn’t really sleep, and I…” She shrugged, shoulders staying slightly up. “Can I talk to you guys?”

“Absolutamente,” they said at the exact same time. It was almost eerie how in sync they were. Lena smiled softly, sitting in the overstuffed armchair and curling up. It was a habit that had come with her memories.

“So, um… Dr. Lorikeet said — well, she did that homework thing again, ya know, talk to someone about whatever…”

She was more hesitant about talking now. She had never been the most talkative, but now she seemed nervous. Her eyes were always darting around, like she was waiting for something to come down on her, her fingers tangling together. They were patient. They’d sit there all night if necessary.

“Anyway. I um… so you met Aunt Magica. You can probably guess what it was like to live with her for fifteen years.” Harry scowled, and Nico nudged him. They could talk about their feelings later. “She yelled. A lot. It was all she could do for a long time — ya know, shadow. She’d yell at me for basically anything, and it… got in my head. So… ya know, that panic attack I had the other day sort of just started out as being overwhelmed and turned into being scared that you were going to be mad.”

She curled up a bit tighter. Nico and Harry exchanged looks. “Why would we be mad?” Harry asked gently.

“I don’t know. Why was Aunt Magica ever mad?” Lena’s gaze darkened slightly. “She just liked to yell at me.”

“Right,” Harry murmured. “You know we’d never yell at you for having feelings, right?”

“I… I’m trying to remember that,” Lena said, eyes on the muted TV. “It’s weird because I have all these memories of you both being amazing and never yelling or getting mad at me even when I deserved it. But I also have these memories of Magica just… berating me over everything. And I… Dr. Lorikeet said something about my brain being wired to just expect to be yelled at every time I do something even a little wrong.”

“Okay,” Nico said slowly. “What can we do to help? We can say ‘we won’t be mad at you’, but I know words only do so much, and when you’re in the middle of a panic attack they might not do much at all. And positive reinforcement only goes so far.”

“I don’t know,” Lena said, uncurling slightly. “I’ve never had to think about anything like this. I never really… thought it would matter.”

The men exchanged looks, nodding slowly. “Okay,” Harry finally said. “What about nightly talks? We used to do that with Violet when she was younger. She had a lot of anxieties, and talking through them with us helped. We’d set aside twenty minutes or so every night, no matter what. If you really don’t feel like talking, we can just spend twenty minutes in silence. The point is to spend time together and make sure we all know that nobody is mad. That’s the important thing. Never go to bed angry.”

Lena nodded. “I remember the rules.”

There weren’t many rules in the Sabrewing household. Respect each other’s privacy. Closed doors required knocking. No stealing from each other. Talk out problems. And never go to bed angry.

“We understand that it’s a little harder for you to talk to us now,” Nico said. “And that we’ll need to work to regain your trust.”

“That’s not…” Lena huffed, frustrated. “Why are you guys like this?”

That caught them off guard. “Like… what?”

“So… So… Nice!” Lena threw her hands in the air. “You don’t even _know_ anything about me, you’ve already seen how dangerous it is to keep me around, you _know_ Aunt Magica is out there looking for me and she’ll be back eventually. Am I really worth that trouble?”

“Yes,” Nico said firmly while Harry we nodded. “We know you’re not who you used to be. We know there’s a lot in your past that has to be worked through, and it’s not going to be easy, but we still love you. And we know it might take you a while to come to terms with and believe that again. And before you say we haven’t talked about it — we have. We’ve had _many_ conversations about this since long before your memories came back.”

“We’ve fostered many children over the years,” Harry added. “We always know there might be a risk.”

“Violet told me about the fire kid.”

“Ah, Zane.” Harry sighed. “He got help eventually. He’s been fostered with the same family for three years now.”

“You keep up with the kids you foster?”

“When we can. It’s easier when they’re under Sun’s care. She knows we worry. Especially about the troubled ones.”

“What _does_ make you give up a kid? I mean, besides lighting a room on fire.”

“A lot of the children we’ve taken over the years were always temporary,” Nico said. “Kids who were pulled out of homes that were under investigation and just needed a place to stay until the house was cleared or a relative can be found. Zane we were worried would be a danger to Violet.”

“How am I _not_ a danger?” Lena asked in disbelief.

“Well, you’re not actively trying to set anything on fire. Violet is older now, and we more than trust her to take care of herself and defend herself if she needs to. We understand the risks, and we’re not completely alone in this. What exactly did you do that Scrooge McDuck has a debt with you?”

“Oh… he made me a promise that if I helped him get his family back, I could have a place in it. And I ended up sorta dying to save Webby and Dewey so… I guess that counts.” She shrugged. “He said he didn’t want to do anything to take away from the family I have here, but he’d be happy to help in any way possible.”

The way she so casually addressed her death made them both shudder a little. Maybe they could persuade her to talk about it with Dr. Lorikeet. “See? You have two families who love you and want to help you.” Nico paused for a moment before adding, “Also, we bought a couple baseball bats to store strategically around the house. I don’t care if she’s a witch, a baseball bat to the right body part will bring anyone down.”

“Maybe we should talk to Violet about self-defense classes…” Harry said thoughtfully. “And Lena too, of course, if you want.”

“Pass. Just send her to Webby, she’s like a super ninja spy. Her grandmother is an _actual_ retired spy.”

The men exchanged looks, smiling knowingly. “Speaking of Webby…”

“We couldn’t help but notice…”

“Nope.” Lena immediately shot up, heading for the stairs.

“Your life will be easier if you just tell her!” Nico called over his shoulder, taking Harry’s hand and intertwining their fingers. “Trust me. I know that better than anyone.”


	19. Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena puts the last of her fears behind her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOUBLE FEATURE. In that you're also getting the last chapter today as kind of a package deal. I'll have more to say later, but enjoy!

Lena still hadn’t gone back to school, which was kind of nice during the day when she was home alone. Nico and Harry were letting it slide for now, telling the school Lena was having health issues. Violet was collecting her homework and bringing it back once Lena had begrudgingly completed it. But she knew that wasn’t going to last forever. And she couldn’t just disappear from school. Harry and Nico would get in trouble.

On the other hand, Webby _also_ didn’t go to school, which meant she could come over whenever she wanted.

“When do you think you’re going to go back?”

They were sitting in the living room now, watching TV while Lena did homework and Webby played with the kittens. “I dunno.” Lena shut her textbook, sighing. “Honestly, I wish I could just be done with it all. Violet said I should ask about skipping a year since it seems like I’m ahead of the learning curve — honestly, I just remember everything I read, but if it gets me out of school sooner, I don’t mind pretending to be smart.”

“You _are_ smart,” Webby argued. “What about homeschooling? Granny’s a great teacher.”

“History with Abbey Road, sounds thrilling,” Lena said in a monotone voice. Webby giggled. “I ended up in a couple boarding schools trying to get to Duckburg — you know, police pick up a homeless kid, can’t find anything on them, so they send them to a prison pretending to be a school. I usually broke out after a week or so, or they kicked me out and I took off before anyone could pick me up. All of this stuff is just so _boring_. And what do I need it for, anyways? I’m not exactly going to _grow up_ and live a normal life.”

“You don’t know that,” Webby pointed out. “Things are different now.”

“I’m still just a shadow, Webby. This is me. It doesn’t matter if I change my clothes or dye my hair or what. I’m still going to look like a thirteen year old forever.”

Webby sighed, ducking her head. She wished she could argue, but the truth was, no one knew what was going to happen to Lena. Maybe she’d stay like this forever. Maybe she’d grow. The only way to tell was to wait. Which was a completely unsatisfactory answer.

“It’s fine, ya know. I mean, I dealt with it years ago. Things haven’t turned out exactly like I thought they would, but…” Lena waved a hand around. “I’ve got it pretty good. Way better than I would if Aunt Magica’s plan had worked out. Pretty much the happiest ending I could’ve asked for.”

“I guess,” Webby said quietly. “I just… as long as you’re being taken care of.”

Lena snorted. “Have you _met_ Harry and Nico? Trust me, I’m fine.”

Tux nipped at Webby’s fingers to get her attention, and she jumped, giggling. “I still can’t believe you were _here_ the whole time.”

“I can’t believe I went to school and therapy.” Lena rolled her eyes. “ _Therapy_. Come on.”

“Aren’t you _still_ going?”

“Nico and Harry won’t let me quit. But honestly, I feel a lot better now that everything is back where it’s supposed to be. I know who I am, I know what I am, there are no more questions about my past or worrying that I was like, some kind of weird sociopath or something. And I’m still being adopted. Eventually I’ll probably have to leave Duckburg, but—”

“Wait, why?”

Lena blinked, surprised at Webby’s outburst. “Well, people are going to notice eventually that I’m not aging. And I don’t want to be a prisoner for the rest of eternity. Besides, there’s still so much of the world to see! There’s an entire country for me to explore right here, never mind other continents and…”

Her voice drifted off as Webby’s face fell further and further. “Pink? What’s wrong?”

“I just got you back and you’re already talking about leaving again.” Her voice was small. Lena immediately felt like a jerk.

“No, of course not! This is like… waaaaaay in the future, like ten years or something. Maybe fifteen. Do you think I could pass for late twenties looking like this? Maybe with some makeup?”

That didn’t seem to help. “Why is it so hard to believe you might actually _age_ and grow?”

“Because I’m a shadow, Webby!” She didn’t mean to raise her voice. She really didn’t. “I’m not _normal_ — I’m not like you or Violet or the boys. I’m a magical construct being kept alive by an amulet in my chest. I’m pretty sure I’d die if that was taken out.” Hell, being too far away from it had caused nearly debilitating chest pains. She couldn’t imagine what it would do to her if Magica took it and headed for another state or country. “I’m just a shadow who gained a little too much sentience. All of this — school, therapy, even my friends and family, none of it is going to matter in a hundred years when you’re dead and I’ve moved on to my next foster family.”

Webby stared for a moment, eyes wide and sad. Lena sighed, flopping back on the couch “Sorry,” she muttered, looking at the wall.

“Do you really think none of it would matter?” Webby murmured after a moment. “Violet, your dads… me?”

Lena looked back at her. “I didn’t… mean it like that. Of course it’ll matter. I’ll still have the memories. That’s more than I’ve had in my entire life. And I’ll always, ya know… care about everyone. But if I’m just going to look like this forever… how am I supposed to live if I can’t move on from things?”

“And what if you age? What if you’re wrong about everything?”

“I… don’t know. Does it matter?”

“It does if you’re going to run away when you realize you _could_ stay here forever.”

Lena hesitated, swallowing hard. “Why would I run?”

“Because you’re scared.” Lena had never felt so called out. “Because you’ve never been anywhere for that long and you never planned on living for this long.”

“Jeez, Webs…” Lena rubbed the back of her head.

“Can you honestly say you wouldn’t be scared if you found out that you age like the rest of us now?” Webby pushed.

“I… I don’t know. I doubt it’ll happen though—”

“But what if it _does_?”

“I don’t know!” Lena curled into a tight ball. “I don’t know what I’d do, okay? I’ve never had to think about it, you’re right. I don’t know what I would do.”

Webby softened a bit. “I know all of this is hard. That’s why I’m worried.”

“What, do I not seem like someone who can handle stress?” Webby raised an eyebrow. “Point taken.”

The smaller duck shifted to sit next to Lena, wrapping her arms around her. “Just… don’t start making escape plans yet, okay? At least wait five years and see if anything changes.”

“I think I can do that.” She was mostly sure she could do it. She could do it for Webby.

* * *

Rings was sleeping next to Lena’s head, half tangled in her hair, while Tux slept wrapped around her hand. Even after everything, she still loved these two.

She was lying in bed, staring at the wall. She couldn’t sleep. She had skipped the sleeping pill, hoping maybe she could handle it on her own, but of course she couldn’t. And she had to be at the mansion _early_ tomorrow. Harry and Nico had agreed to switch her to homeschooling, and Beakley was the best teacher anyone knew.

 _What kind of madwoman starts school at six?_ she wondered, carefully reaching for her phone. It was just after midnight. At least Beakley’s teaching wasn’t _too_ intense, from what Webby had said. Then again… Webby might not have been the most reliable.

Lena set her phone aside again, and closed her eyes. She could sleep. She could sleep. She could… not… sleep.

“Augh!” She groaned, rolling over and pressing her face into the pillow, upsetting both cats. The mewled pathetically, trying to find another comfortable position. “Oh, shush,” she grumbled, opening her eyes to stare out the window. It was too late to take a sleeping pill, of course. Maybe a xanax would help. Where did Nico and Harry keep that? It wasn’t that they didn’t trust the girls, but they liked to have control over the controlled substances, for obvious reasons.

“Screw it,” she muttered crawling out of bed. Maybe some of Harry’s sleepy tea would work. He swore by it.

She paused at the bottom of the stairs when she saw the kitchen light on and heard the murmured voices. She should have gone back to bed. But she couldn’t help herself.

“...magical protection? I don’t think that’s covered under our home insurance.”

Lena leaned against the wall, slipping into the shadows. “I’m sure Mr. McDuck would be happy to help us with it,” Nico said with a hint of laughter in his tone. “Or Lena.”

“I don’t want to put that on her,” Harry said. “She needs to be focused on herself right now.”

“You’re right,” Nico agreed. “Scrooge McDuck it is, then.”

“I thought you didn’t like taking charity?”

“It’s not charity, it’s making sure everyone in this family is safe. No different from upgrading our house alarm. Which we should also do.”

“I’ll call about it tomorrow.”

“And _I_ will deal with talking to Mr. McDuck,” Nico said dryly. Harry muttered something not quite audible in Spanish, and Nico laughed. “Te quiero, Hernaldo.”

“Yo te quiero más.”

They were trying to figure out ways to keep the house safe… not _from_ Lena, but _for_ her. They were sitting up after midnight, thinking both their daughters were asleep, and going over everything they could to make sure everyone was safe.

Tears burned in Lena’s eyes; she raised a hand automatically to wipe them away — then froze and yelped when she saw that her feather colored had inverted.

 _Oh no no no no no no_ —

“Lena?”

Nico flipped the light on, peeking out of the kitchen. He couldn’t quite keep his surprise from showing. “Pajarito?”

“It’s nothing,” Lena said quickly, shaking her head and squeezing her eyes shut. It took a moment for the magic to finally dissipate; she was back to normal when she opened her eyes. Harry had joined Nico, watching with concern. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I guess I got a little caught up in the shadows… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Harry assured her, beckoning her forward so they could both close her in a tight hug. “We know things are different now, Lena. We’re happy to take the steps and figure things out with you.”

“ _Why_?” She didn’t get it. What had she done to deserve this much love without anything being expected in return?

“Because you’re our daughter. You have been from the moment you walked through that door, and you will be until you decide for yourself that you no longer want to be a part of this family.” Nico carefully tilted Lena’s head up to look at him. “I know this is hard to believe — harder now with all your memories back. But we _do_ love you. Nothing is going to change that. Please give us a chance to prove it?”

“I… I believe you, I just…” Lena shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Well that’s something to work on, isn’t it? We’ll just have to keep loving you until you understand why you’re worth it.”

Lena smiled weakly, wiping her eyes. “Thank you for putting up with me.”

“Thank _you_ for putting up with _us_ ,” Nico said with a small, teasing smile, ruffling her hair. Harry pulled her into a hug from behind, kissing the back of her head, and she giggled despite herself. “You should get some sleep. We’ll talk to Mrs. Beakley about starting a little later but just for tomorrow.”

“Can I have something stronger than tea to help?”

“Making fun of my tea,” Harry grumbled, but he was smiling as he went to find the xanax. And for the first time, Lena felt herself truly relax. She was okay. She was here. With her family.

It was going to be okay.


	20. Epilogue - Happily Ever After, For Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Then all anxiety was at an end, and they lived together in perfect happiness_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Here's the end. I hope it hits everyone in all the right ways and is satisfying ^.^
> 
> I don't know if I'll continue things in this universe. It's certainly been fun to play with and I have another potential loose sequel in mind. For now I have a few things I'm working on (including a soulmate AU that I've tentatively started) so we'll see what hooks my brain next, I guess.
> 
> Thank you, thank you, _thank you_ to everyone who's taken the time to leave comments/kudos/etc. on my first multi-chapter Ducktales fic. This was a blast to write.
> 
> And on with the show.

_**Three Months later** _

It wasn’t an authentic Sabrewing barbecue until Nico insisted he could cook and set the grill on fire. 

“There it is,” Violet said as the flames reared up, and the yelling started. “I don’t know why he ever thinks he can do that.”

“Do they need help?” Huey asked, watching.

“No, this always happens. They know to handle it, don’t worry.”

The kids were settled on a blanket near the patio, basking in the sun and enjoying the light spring breeze. Lena had her sunglasses on, but they weren’t doing much to hide her enjoyment.

“So it’s all official now, right?” Webby asked, flopping over to rest her head in Lena’s lap. You’re really, really adopted?”

“Really, really, really adopted,” Lena confirmed, throwing in an extra really for emphasis. “In a few weeks we’ll get a birth certificate in the mail that says Lena Sabrewing on it.”

“That sounds like such a cool name,” Dewey said enviously. “Did you know I could’ve been _Turbo_ Duck?”

“That sounds like one of those really bad, straight to video movies that people hate watch.”

“It’s better than _Dewey_.”

“Barely.”

Webby giggled, looking toward the grill. The fire had been put out, and Harry was scraping charred remains off the racks, mumbling to himself while Nico stood off to the side, arms crossed. Della swooped in and tugged him away, pulling him into a conversation with her and Donald.

“Think they’re exchanging parenting tips?”

“I hope so.” Loue laid back, crossing his arms under his head. “Mom needs all the help she can get.”

“Hey be nice, she’s trying.”

“Yeah, so can someone tell me that story?” Lena asked, looking around.

“Mom crash landed a rocket on the moon and was stuck there for ten years trying to rebuild it.”

“On the _moon_?” Lena scoffed. “No one is ever allowed to talk about me dropping off the grid for six months ever again.”

Scrooge and Beakley were a few feet away from the group of parents, nursing their own drinks and talking. It was a sign of how serious Harry was about cooking that he hadn’t immediately keeled over when Scrooge McDuck had walked into the backyard.

Lena smiled, resting her back against the small patio wall and closing her eyes. This… This was everything. Everything she could have asked for. Everything she had dreamed of back when she’d still been optimistic enough to _have_ dreams. There were some things she couldn’t have predicted — like her weird connection to the most prominent family in town — but they were mostly things that made her life better.

“Whatcha thinking about?”

Speaking of things that made life better. Lena looked down at Webby, still lying in her lap and smiling up at her. “Nothing, really. Just kind of enjoying the moment. Waiting for Aunt Magica to crash the party.”

“No chance of that,” Violet said dryly. Scrooge had been _more_ than happy to help with magical defenses around the Sabrewing household. He knew _someone_ powerful apparently, because the charms were strong and sturdy. Even Violet didn’t dare to touch them, despite her curiosity. 

“Besides, almost everyone in this yard has hit her at least once,” Dewey added. “She’s not stupid enough to try and crash a party with you, Scrooge, _and_ Webby here. Probably.”

“Papi’s been practicing with the baseball bats,” Violet added. “I don’t envy anyone who tries to break into this house.”

Nico looked passed Donald (he was _starting_ to understand the duck a bit better), seeking out the kids and smiling when he saw them talking and laughing. He’d always worried a little about Violet, who didn’t have _trouble_ making friends so much as didn’t have any _interest_. Lena had been good for her, and vice versa. And now they had an entire group of friends.

Well. He tilted his head down slightly to look over the rim of his sunglasses, smiling when he saw Webby lying in Lena’s lap like she belonged there. Mostly friends.

“Things have been okay, then?” Della asked, drawing Nico’s attention back to her and Donald. She had struck up a friendship with the two fathers and did as much as she could to offer advice with handling someone else’s trauma. They, in return, had been offering her some parenting advice. It was easier to accept help from them than it was Donald and Scrooge.

“Less nightmares. And she’s talking to us more.”

“Still going to therapy?” Donald asked.

“Surprisingly, yes. I’ve been waiting for her to start arguing about it. But I think she likes it.” Nico smiled, sipping his drink. “I think the adoption being done will help a lot as well. One less thing to worry about. She’s stuck with us now.”

“I’m sure she’s _really_ put out about that,” Della teased. “Who wants a happy family?”

“I’d settle for a normal one,” Donald grumbled. Della rolled her eyes, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and leaning on him.

“Normal is overrated.”

Donald did _not_ look convinced.

“Yer staring.”

“I am not.”

“Yer not even trying to hide it.”

Beakley sighed, focusing on Scrooge, who was giving her a look. “You can hardly blame me for being concerned.”

“She _did_ save Webby’s life,” Scrooge pointed out. “I know you weren’t overly fond of her, but that should count for something.”

“I’m not worried about her in particular,” Beakley said, looking back at the girls out of the corner of her eye. “Webby’s barely thirteen. And Lena… has been through a lot.”

“And I’m fairly certain neither of them are particularly aware of feelings beyond friendship,” Scrooge reasoned with the worried grandmother.

“I never thought about preparing her for dating.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Beakley was still frowning. “You can’t protect her from everything.”

“I’m aware.” She’d learned that lesson when Lena had died. Another thing Beakley had never thought to prepare her for. “I just want her to be happy.”

“She looks pretty happy to me.” Lena said something right on cue, and Webby giggled. There was no denying the look in Lena’s eyes as she turned her attention to the girl in her lap. “All right, well… Webigail isn’t aware of any feelings. I’m not sure I can say the same about Lena.”

Beakley sighed, taking a sip of her drink. Lena had risked her life to save Webby. She cared about Webby. She wanted to protect her. At the end of the day, her own goals really weren’t that different from Beakley’s. Maybe she could take a chance and find a compromise.

“Food’s ready!” Harry called, putting an end to the scattered conversations. Everyone went to line up at the grill for food — except for Lena. She watched the others go before slipping inside, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and shoving her sunglasses up to rest on her head.

An excited _mrow_ sounded from somewhere near her ankles while something furry wrapped around her legs. She smiled, stooping down to scoop the cat up.

“Hey, Tux. How ya doing?” The cat purred loudly, headbutting her chin. She smiled, carrying him further into the shade of the house. “You’re causing trouble, aren’t you?” Another headbutt. “You chewed up my sketchbook again, didn’t you?”

“Lena?” She jumped as Webby slid the door open, calling her name. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah.” Lena set Tux down on the couch, turning to look at Webby. “I just… needed a break. Too much sunlight for a creature of the night.”

Webby rolled her eyes, smiling. “Right, of course. I forgot how dark and mysterious you are.”

“Very funny.” Lena sat on the couch with Tux, petting him gently. Webby walked over, sitting with her.

“Seriously, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Really.” Lena scrubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. “Things are still kind of overwhelming sometimes, you know? I just need a break from everything.”

“That’s fair.” Webby shifted uncertainly. “Should I go?”

“No,” Lena said quickly. “I mean, one person is fine. You’re fine. I just didn’t want to interrupt anything.”

“Hey, it’s your party. You can tell us all to get out if you want.”

“I don’t want to, though. I just… want to take a break.”

Webby leaned against Lena, then pulled her into a tight hug. Lena smiled, curling up and putting her arm around Webby’s shoulders. The silence was comfortable. They didn’t need to talk.

“Do you regret taking the amulet?” Webby asked after a moment. “You could’ve just kept your normal life…”

“That went out the window as soon as Aunt Magica showed up,” Lena said dryly. “But no, I don’t regret it. I’m not sure I ever would’ve been really… _happy_ if I didn’t know the truth. I tried to act like I would be so everyone would stop worrying, but I always would have wondered. And I never would have found you.”

“You’d already found me, though,” Webby started to point out. Lena shook her head.

“Not like that. You’re my best friend. You _saved_ me. Things never would have been the same if I didn’t remember that.”

“I didn’t… _you’re_ the one who saved _me_ ,” Webby said, frowning.

“And you’re the reason I was able to do that. You changed my entire life. I never would’ve changed or had the courage to stand up to Magica if it wasn’t for you.”

Webby smiled, her hand finding the one resting on her shoulder and intertwining their fingers. “I didn’t do much.”

“You didn’t have to.” Lena rested her cheek on the top of Webby’s head, taking a deep breath. “You existed, and that was enough.”

They fell silent again, enjoying each other’s company. It was a nice moment to just _be_. To exist with each other, without anything else to interfere. It was quiet. They were comfortable and happy.

“Webs?”

“Hmmm?” Somehow, she’d already managed to fall half asleep. Lena smiled, holding her a little closer and getting comfortable.

“Never mind. It can wait.”

They had plenty of time.


End file.
